A PLEA on behalf of the 19-year-old Liverpool football fan serving a 15-year sentence in a Bulgarian jail for attempted murder is to be made in the House of Commons today.
Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool, Riverside, is to mount a debate on the case of Michael Shields, of Edge Hill, who has consistently claimed that he was in bed in his hotel when a barman, Martin Georgiev, was attacked with a rock and suffered serious head injuries during a street brawl in the Bulgarian resort of Varna.
Another man, Graham Sankey, an Anfield electrician, has confessed to the crime, but the Bulgarian courts have so far refused to accept this as evidence.
Shields was stopping off in Bulgaria, on his way home from watching Liverpool beat AC Milan in the Champions League cup in Istanbul in May when the incident occurred.
He was convicted and sentenced in July. Earlier this month, an appeal to have his sentence reduced failed, but the court reduced his £70,000 fine to £42,000. A further appeal is pending to the Supreme Court in Sofia.
Mrs Ellman said: "There could be a grave miscarriage of justice here.
"Michael has claimed his innocence throughout and the fact that he said he was in bed at the time has been supported by the hotel porter.
"I understand that the British Government cannot intervene in the judicial process, but I hope the court will have the chance to examine all the available evidence."
