THE family of Michael Shields is planning to take the case to the highest court in Europe.
Family solicitor John Weate said: "I am now hoping to engage specialist human rights lawyers and investigate the potential for making an application to the European Court of Human Rights, under Article 6, claiming Michael did not have a fair trial.
"We are not giving up. This is an innocent lad."
North West Labour MEP Arlene McCarthy pledged her support, saying she was "outraged" that the Bulgarian justice system had failed the teenager.
She said: "I have, this morning, contacted the justice department of the European Commission to lodge a complaint about the failure of Bulgaria to enable my constituent to have a fair trial."
GRAHAM SANKEY said yesterday Michael Shields should be given a retrial.
His solicitor, David Kirwan, said his client shared the "despair of the rest of Liverpool" at the failure of Shields' appeal..
But Mr Kirwan added it would be wrong to connect the unsuccessful appeal with Sankey.
He said: "I must continue to stress our belief that any incident that Graham was involved in is separate to the one for which Michael Shields was convicted."
