Shields appeal fails
Nov 9 2005
EXCLUSIVE by Greg O'Keeffe, Liverpool Echo
TEENAGER Michael Shields today failed in a bid to have his 15-year sentence for the attempted murder of a Bulgarian barman reduced.
Appeal court judges ruled the 19-year-old student must serve the full jail term given to him following his trial in July.
Only one of the three-man review panel argued that the sentence should be cut.
Reds fan Michael, from Wavertree, was convicted despite another man confessing.
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Anfield electrician Graham Sankey admitted attacking father-of-two Martin Georgiev with a rock but has refused to face justice in Bulgaria.
Michael has always said he was asleep when the attack took place in May.
Today his family vowed: "We won't give up."
The judges refused to consider any new evidence at the first appeal stage and only reduced Michael's fine to £40,000.
Now he faces a final make-or-break appeal against conviction at the Bulgarian supreme court in the new year.
Michael's sister Laura, 24, said: "We are upset but this won't stop us.
"It just means we'll have to struggle on over Christmas and hope they can finally accept the new evidence.
"Any police force or court can make a mistake and we think the new statement will prove that one has been made here. We won't give up."
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