JAILED Reds fan Michael Shields must wait another month for the results of the appeal against his jail sentence.
Michael, 19, from Wavertree, is serving 15 years for the attempted murder of a barman in Varna, Bulgaria, despite a confession from Anfield electrician Graham Sankey.
Today he was back in Varna district court alongside his parents and two sisters for an hour-long appeal hearing.
Michael's legal team asked for his charge to be reduced from attempted murder to assault or wounding. But after a legal discussion, the court retired to consider the request and return within four weeks.
Today, his father Michael Snr, 46, said: "We can't really take much positive from this. Once again we've been let down by Sankey and his legal team.
"Sankey's lawyer said he wanted assurances his client wouldn't be arrested if he flew to Bulgaria. We managed to get that written assurance from the Bulgarians but Sankey ignored it.
"We even offered to pay for Sankey's flights but heard nothing from them."
If the sentence is reduced to three years or less, there is a chance that Shields could finish his sentence in an English prison. But his UK solicitor Julian Linskill said he did not believe that outcome was likely.
He said: "It seems more likely that a full appeal against conviction will take place in Sofia at a later date."
In July, Varna court ruled that Michael slammed a concrete slab on to Martin Georgiev's head during a fight outside a fast food shop - even though the teenager has always insisted he was asleep in his hotel bedroom at the time.
Sankey, 20, has issued a written confession to the attack through a Merseyside-based solicitor but it was rejected by the trial judge and he has refused to travel to Bulgaria to give evidence in person.
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