THE family of jailed teenager Michael Shields will urge foreign secretary Jack Straw to help them during face-to-face talks.
Michael Shields Snr is hoping Mr Straw will help him persuade the Bulgarian government to accept new evidence in their 18-year- old son ' s forthcoming appeal.
Michael is serving a 15-year sentence for an attack on a Bulgarian barman, despite Anfield electrician Graham Sankey confessing to the crime.
His family want the Bulgarian appeal court to accept Sankey's confession alongside other new evidence linking Sankey to the attack.
Today, Michael Snr, 45, said: "I want to look him in the eyes and make him realise the injustice which is going on here.
"It's a massive opportunity. I'd like to ask him why he's waited 15 weeks to see us - but I want the meeting to be constructive.
"The pressure of our campaign must have helped. I know the ECHO editor wrote to him and received a reply which didn't really say much.
"I'll be taking Sankey's confession with me and showing it to Mr Straw. Sankey even apologises to Georgiev and us in the document.
"He is admitting the attack, albeit in a different way than we had hoped."
Michael and wife Marie will postpone a chance to visit their son in his Varna cell in order to meet Mr Straw in London.
Yesterday campaigners descended on Mr Straw's Blackburn constituency. They gave out nearly 10,000 leaflets in the Lancastrian city and thousands signed a petition to free Michael.
Riverside MP Louise Ellman, who has backed the bid to free Michael Shields, confirmed a meeting had been arranged for next Tuesday.
Ms Ellman promised to put pressure on Mr Straw to ensure Bulgarian authorities investigated new evidence. She hoped Mr Straw would exert influence over Merseyside police to explore all options to investigate Mr Sankey.
