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Michael Shields was arrested in the summer of 2005 and charged with attacking a 25-year-old Bulgarian in the Golden Sands resort near the port city of Varna. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)
Michael Shields, the British football fan sentenced in Bulgaria for the attempted murder of a barman, has been allowed to take a lie detector test in his Lancashire prison, Liverpool Echo reported.
Michael Shields, who turned 21 in September, was convicted for the attempted murder of bartender Martin Georgiev in the Golden Sands resort in May 2005. The initial sentence of fifteen years was reduced a year later to ten years' imprisonment.
Earlier this year Michael Shields returned to Britain to complete his sentence and last month both he and his family asked for a polygraph.
The Home Office decision to allow him to take the lie detector test is believed to be crucial in the student's battle to win a pardon, Liverpool Echo commented.
The news comes just days after the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov surprisingly hinted he would not object if the UK decided to pardon Michael Shields and set him free.
"Michael Shields' problems might also be solved by the competent authorities in the United Kingdom," reads Parvanov's letter to the British officials.
"We have in mind the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (article 12) which stipulates each party to this convention may grant pardon, amnesty or commutation of the sentence in accordance with its constitution or other laws.
�The practices and legislation in the UK are familiar with the mechanisms for conditional discharge of sentenced persons, including their release on humanitarian grounds."
Shields was arrested in Bulgaria as he returned from Liverpool's champions league victory in Istanbul in the summer of 2005.
Another Liverpool fan Graham Sankey, 20, later confessed to the crime but refused to come back to Bulgaria and give evidence in person. The Bulgarian authorities then refused to consider the evidence. Sankey subsequently retracted his confession and his solicitor said his client was involved in a different fight.
Shields insisted he was asleep in bed when a concrete slab was dropped on Martin Georgiev's head.
Michael Shields, who turned 21 in September, was convicted for the attempted murder of bartender Martin Georgiev in the Golden Sands resort in May 2005. The initial sentence of fifteen years was reduced a year later to ten years' imprisonment.
Earlier this year Michael Shields returned to Britain to complete his sentence and last month both he and his family asked for a polygraph.
The Home Office decision to allow him to take the lie detector test is believed to be crucial in the student's battle to win a pardon, Liverpool Echo commented.
The news comes just days after the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov surprisingly hinted he would not object if the UK decided to pardon Michael Shields and set him free.
"Michael Shields' problems might also be solved by the competent authorities in the United Kingdom," reads Parvanov's letter to the British officials.
"We have in mind the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (article 12) which stipulates each party to this convention may grant pardon, amnesty or commutation of the sentence in accordance with its constitution or other laws.
�The practices and legislation in the UK are familiar with the mechanisms for conditional discharge of sentenced persons, including their release on humanitarian grounds."
Shields was arrested in Bulgaria as he returned from Liverpool's champions league victory in Istanbul in the summer of 2005.
Another Liverpool fan Graham Sankey, 20, later confessed to the crime but refused to come back to Bulgaria and give evidence in person. The Bulgarian authorities then refused to consider the evidence. Sankey subsequently retracted his confession and his solicitor said his client was involved in a different fight.
Shields insisted he was asleep in bed when a concrete slab was dropped on Martin Georgiev's head.
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