Jailed Shields' fight for freedom

Shields was moved to a British prison in 2006

For the family and supporters of Liverpool fan Michael Shields the past four years have been an agonising journey for justice.

Shields, now 22, was jailed for the attempted murder of a Bulgarian waiter following his team's victory in the Champions League final in Istanbul in 2005.

While his supporters have led the campaign to have him cleared, Shields has spent his adult life moving around the prison system, always maintaining his innocence.

Evidence has emerged which appears to support his claim that he did not attack the waiter.

In summer 2008 the BBC's Inside Out North West found a group of holidaymakers who claimed to have met a Bulgarian police officer involved in the trial who said he knew that Shields had been wrongly convicted.

All we have every wanted is Michael back home with us Shields's father, Michael senior

This latest dossier of information was used in an appeal to the High Court for a judicial review.

Judges ruled that Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who had argued he had no authority to intervene in the case, did have the power to pardon and free Shields.

So when Mr Straw announced in December he had set up a committee dedicated to reviewing the evidence, which was to be investigated by Merseyside Police, freedom for the Liverpool fan seemed possible.

But a political dilemma has arisen, as freeing Shields would set a precedent for other UK prisoners in foreign jails.

Shields' father, also Michael, said: "First it was due in May, then the decision was to come a few weeks back, all we want, all we have every wanted is Michael back home with us."

In May 2005 waiter Martin Georgiev had a rock dropped on his head in Varna, Bulgaria, where Shields, like a number of Liverpool fans, had broken the journey home from Istanbul.

No pardon

Shields, then 18, was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison, which was reduced to 10 years on appeal.

In 2006 he was transferred to a young offenders institute in Cumbria. He is currently at Thorn Cross Young Offenders' Institute, in Appleton Thorn, Warrington, Cheshire.

North West England MEP Arlene McCarthy and Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman have supported Shields' case by organising a petition to the government and the European Parliament complaining about the treatment he received in Bulgaria.

In response the Bulgarian authorities said the UK government could free Shields as he was serving his sentence in Britain, but no pardon would be considered by them.

A number of high-profiles figures, including Liverpool footballers, politicians and clergymen have all shown their support for Shields.

Another Liverpool man, Graham Sankey, admitted carrying out the attack, although he later withdrew his confession.