Michael shields

[shouter]

Michael Shields: My life in prison - Liverpool Echo.co.uk

 

Fuckin hell it hits home when you read this what the lads gone through. Three years of his life and for what being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jack Straw you shit house cunt get your finger out and stop hiding behind so called european court rules. If he was a manc hed of been out 2 years ago like them fellas who got locked up in rome they didnt stay inside long. Its just sickening.

Edited October 28, 2008 by shouter

[RobbieOR]

Its a good read.It shows us what he has to go through which must be pretty frightening.Hopefully hell get out soon.

[Tom R]

I’m still not entirely convinced that he didn’t do it.

 

*dons crash helmet*

[Sangria]

I’m still not entirely convinced that he didn’t do it.

 

*dons crash helmet*

 

I know people who know the family and him personally and who I trust and they swear he did not do it. They know people who where with him etc.

 

One of them was up to visit him lately and he just said to me imagine being that lads age and being locked up for something you did not do, nightmare.

[discuit]

I’m still not entirely convinced that he didn’t do it.

 

*dons crash helmet*

 

I agree with you, i also did not agree with the club getting behind it so much.

[dave u]

I’m still not entirely convinced that he didn’t do it.

 

*dons crash helmet*

 

I'm not 100% sure either, I don't see how anyone other than those who were there, and his family, can be.

 

But that lie detector thing he passed has swayed me considerably into the 'innocent' camp. He always said he'd pass it, and he did.

[Dirk]

I'm not 100% sure either, I don't see how anyone other than those who were there, and his family, can be.

 

But that lie detector thing he passed has swayed me considerably into the 'innocent' camp. He always said he'd pass it, and he did.

 

They had a former senior British police detective do a documentary about his case. They said he was taken back to the place where the incident occurred, after he was arrested and left inside the car outside the restaurant. The Police officer said this would result in the sacking of said officers had it been this country. He was cuffed to the radiator in the police station and the people performing the ID parade passed him before they did the parade. Apparently the Bulgarian bloke initially said it wasn't him and then changed his mind. Even before they added in the lie detector evidence, had that case been heard in this country, he would have been acquitted.

[shouter]

People who say there not sure hes innocent realy havent done there homework on this case have they? The case was flawed right from the word go,the only reason hes still inside is political and nothing to do with his innocence or not.

[Sangria]

I am one hundred percent sure he is serving a sentence for a crime he did not commit. He was only a young lad, imagine it was your son who went to the game and ended up with the injustice.

A lot of reds are on the fence with this one and maybe not convinced but with the documentary Dirk mentions and the lie detector test it is plain to see at the very least the conviction is more than dodgy.

 

In my book it is a disgrace and a terrible miscarriage of justice.

[redrosetints]

Michael Shields: My life in prison - Liverpool Echo.co.uk

 

Fuckin hell it hits home when you read this what the lads gone through. Three years of his life and for what being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jack Straw you shit house cunt get your finger out and stop hiding behind so called european court rules. If he was a manc hed of been out 2 years ago like them fellas who got locked up in rome they didnt stay inside long. Its just sickening.

 

Comparing him to what would happen to a Manc is just small time. Whilst there is alot of holes in the case against him, you can't be sure he didnt do it. Wasn't he picked out by a few people in a lineup ?

 

If he's innocent, I feel for him, but I dont know either way.

[Cath]

There's a difference between saying a case is flawed and he's innocent. From what I have read it would appear that the lad has not received a fair trial. However I cannot hope to know whether he's innocent or guilty from reading a few newspaper and internet reports. Jurys spend weeks pouring over the finer details of cases and still struggle to reach verdicts.

[Dirk]

Comparing him to what would happen to a Manc is just small time. Whilst there is alot of holes in the case against him, you can't be sure he didnt do it. Wasn't he picked out by a few people in a lineup ?

 

If he's innocent, I feel for him, but I dont know either way.

 

Yeah, people that had walked past him as he was cuffed to a radiator in the station.

[JohnnyH]

A lie detector test is utterly pointless and has been proven as such. They have been proved to be easily beatable and totally inconclusive as an innocent person can appear guilty due to nerves, etc, and a guilty person can come across as innocent through basic calming techniques.

 

There is no doubt that the way this kid was arrested and then left in plain view of all meant he had no chance of a fair trial. However, this doesn’t actually mean he was innocent, just that he was arrested and detained in an entirely flawed manner.

 

I do however lean to the side of the lad been innocent though.

[Harry Squatter]

They had a former senior British police detective do a documentary about his case. They said he was taken back to the place where the incident occurred, after he was arrested and left inside the car outside the restaurant. The Police officer said this would result in the sacking of said officers had it been this country. He was cuffed to the radiator in the police station and the people performing the ID parade passed him before they did the parade. Apparently the Bulgarian bloke initially said it wasn't him and then changed his mind. Even before they added in the lie detector evidence, had that case been heard in this country, he would have been acquitted.

 

I saw that as well, they made him put a white t-shirt on because the guy hitting the waiter with the paving stone had also worn a white t-shirt then they paraded him as you said they did. They also never recovered the slab of concrete used in the attack to examine it for fingerprints or DNA traces. All seems a bit dodgy, then you have the guy who admitted it then retracted his statement. He attacked one of my mates at a Sunday league game last year and nearly bit his ear off.

[redrosetints]

Yeah, people that had walked past him as he was cuffed to a radiator in the station.

 

Well, i did see your post afterwards. It sounds like he had a rough time, but I think Caths right, declaring innocence and criticising a case and its presentations are two different things.

[JohnnyH]

I saw that as well, they made him put a white t-shirt on because the guy hitting the waiter with the paving stone had also worn a white t-shirt then they paraded him as you said they did. They also never recovered the slab of concrete used in the attack to examine it for fingerprints or DNA traces. All seems a bit dodgy, then you have the guy who admitted it then retracted his statement. He attacked one of my mates at a Sunday league game last year and nearly bit his ear off.

 

Problem there is though that if you've read Sankeys statement, the fight he explains is nothing like what Shields is alleged to have been involved in and jailed for. The confession of Sankey seems to refer to an entirely different incident. Personally, I still feel that Sankey is the one that did it anyway.

[Tom R]

I've passed a lie detector test whilst blatantly lying.

My Mate works at Bradford Uni and he strapped a few of us to one for a session a few years back.

 

They're not 100% accurate, hence why they are utterly unadmissable in court.

 

I don't pretend to know all the facts surrounding the case, but I also don't buy in to this very naive, closed-ears attitude of, “dem fuckin dodgy foreign coppers bangin up our lad”.

 

With the amount of furore and media hype that has surrounded this case, I just can’t believe that if the evidence that points to innocence is as strong as some allege, then he wouldn’t be acquitted immediately.

[Carra_is_legend]

Yeah, people that had walked past him as he was cuffed to a radiator in the station.

 

That is how it works in some countries though. Witnesses get to see the face of the guy who is charged with the crime. I have read various articles (especially in the asian world) about the same thing - police showing the alleged criminal's face to witnesses - even before the witnesses are asked to identify him.

 

I'm not saying the lad is innocent or guilty, just pointing out that in some countries, that is how it works.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

I said this when he first got arrested for it, my dad has been in the police for 29 years and has worked with the german, french, dutch and bulgarian police forces, and he has seen how they all work and if shields was innocent then he would not have been banged up. Now with shields being a red i was well in full support of him getting released if anything that documentary that was on made me change my mind or put that first seed of doubt in. Their justice system was compared against how ours works, and it shouldn't have been, they may be tougher in terms of how they treat the suspects but they investigate and have enough evidence to make an arrest. In foreign countries the way they are allowed to share evidence is different to how we can more often than not get the full story in our media for example. If there was conclusive evidence to support getting him out then like any other innocent brit accused of a crime in a foreign land, the government would have had him released by negotiations with said country. Things are not always black and white. If he is innocent then sound great lets push this to whoever to get him out. But if he isn't then let him stay where he is and pay for his crime. He must know what happened as he was there that night. Surely the amount of people that have identified him from the night can't all be wrong can they?

[philyhamann]

He didn't do it, anyone who has read the facts knows this. I knew one of the guys who was with Sankey, and the guy was a total pleb who would do something like this for sure, total scum. All you need to see is the stuff about Sankey, signed a confession and as soon as he had to go over to Bulgaria to do time he shit it.

 

Not to mention one of the countries most respected detectives shitting all over their case, and him passing a lie detector test.

[Tom R]

He didn't do it, anyone who has read the facts knows this.

 

 

So why is he still in Jail?

 

Suppose they're just holding him cos they're foreign or something. Or maybe just for a laugh?

[Dicko]

Problem there is though that if you've read Sankeys statement, the fight he explains is nothing like what Shields is alleged to have been involved in and jailed for. The confession of Sankey seems to refer to an entirely different incident. Personally, I still feel that Sankey is the one that did it anyway.

 

No he admitted to what was supposed to of happened, dropping the slab on the Bulgarian's face.

 

He then changed his story to say he was mistaken that although he did drop a slab of concrete on a Bulgarian's head it wasn't this Bulgarian.

 

Michael's lawyers and the Bulgarian authorities investigated this, No police were called to this alleged incident. And no hospital has any evidence of a man being admitted with such injuries.

 

P.S. The lad who was attacked stood to gain £75,000 through compensation.

[philyhamann]

So why is he still in Jail?

 

Suppose they're just holding him cos they're foreign or something. Or maybe just for a laugh?

 

He got sentenced for a crime he didn't commit is why. As soon as Bulgaria got their money, he was back in Britain which shows were their motives lie.

[Dicko]

So why is he still in Jail?

 

Suppose they're just holding him cos they're foreign or something. Or maybe just for a laugh?

 

Michael's over here.

 

Who knows what the motive are for keeping him in jail, but it's blatantly obvious the trial was unsafe.

[philyhamann]

He is in jail because Jack Straw can't legally pardon him or some bollocks even if the Bulgarians aren't arsed anymore. Its all about bureaucracy.