Sankey Fails to Show Up in Court, Faces Nervous Breakdown

Crime | May 23, 2006, Tuesday // 00:00

Graham Sankey, who was in Bulgaria at the time of a bar incident last year, failed to attend court as police tried to ban him from attending football matches in Britain and overseas.

The young man, 20, who last year said he carried out the attack for which UK football fan Michael Shields is serving a 10-year jail term, but later retracted his testimony was not at Liverpool magistrates court for the hearing.

His lawyer said Sankey is on the brink of a nervous breakdown. "There has been enormous pressure on my client from the media and public opinion," solicitor David Kirwan commented.

Sankey made a written confession to throwing a brick at a Bulgarian man during a fight in the Golden Sands resort, in Varna, in May, last year. He made his confession after another Liverpool man, 19-year-old Michael Shields, was charged with attempted murder.

The victim, 25-year-old Martin Georgiev, was left with a fractured skull and possible brain damage.

The Bulgarian court had refused to admit the written confession, made to a Merseyside solicitor, as evidence. He later retracted his confessions, saying he had admitted to a different assault from the one Michael Shields was jailed for.

Sankey's lawyer said he now believed Michael Shields was guilty.

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