Straw rules out pardon for jailed football fan
Justice Secretary Jack Straw said he understood the ``strong emotions'' felt by the family of jailed Liverpool football fan Michael Shields but could not grant a pardon based on the ``rule of law''.
Shields was jailed for 15 years in Bulgaria in 2005 for the attempted murder of a barman following Liverpool's Champions League triumph in Turkey.
His mother, Marie Shields, described Mr Straw's decision as a disgrace and said: ``This feels like a knife in the back.''
But Mr Straw stressed his decision - in which he concluded he was unable to decide whether the 22-year-old was ``morally and technically innocent'' - was provisional.
``I understand, of course, the strong emotions felt by the Shields family and his many supporters in Liverpool and way beyond Liverpool,'' said Mr Straw. ``What I ask people in return is that you have to operate in this country by the rule of law.''
He said that he had made his decision ``in accordance'' with a High Court judgment made in December last year. Mr Straw refused to comment on what evidence he would need to be presented with to grant a pardon but said he would be prepared to meet the Shields family.
He added that Shields' legal team now had a month to put forward more evidence. ``Of course, I am open to further representations from Mr Shields and I am seeking them,'' he said.
Shields was jailed for the attempted murder of Bulgarian waiter Martin Georgiev. He was in the Golden Sands resort near the Port of Varna to celebrate the club's Champions League triumph in May 2005 when Mr Georgiev's skull was smashed by a thug with a paving slab.
Despite another man signing a confession and an international outcry about Shields's case being a miscarriage of justice, he was locked up and transferred to Britain for the remainder of his sentence.
The prisoner's father, Michael senior, said: ``We are absolutely devastated by today's announcement from Jack Straw. After four years of tireless campaigning, we had every hope and belief that Michael was about to be pardoned for a crime he did not commit. I have spoken to Michael and he is absolutely distraught.''
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Friday 25 May 2012
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