Why Was The Trial Of Michael Shields Deemed "Flawed"?

The trial itself was also completely flawed, found Peter Coles, a former senior policeman, who investigated the case for the ITV current affairs programme, Tonight. Firstly, Mr Coles found that Michael was convicted without a shred of forensic evidence linking him to the violent crime. He was found guilty purely on the strength of eyewitness identification. The Bulgarian authorities dismissed the statements given by Michael's roommates, who had placed him in bed at the time of the attack.

A further twist was the refusal of the Varna Regional Court to accept the written confession of Graham Sankey as evidence. In a statement made through his solicitor, the electrician, who is now thought to be suffering from a nervous breakdown, said "an innocent man has received blame for what I did. I accept that I must have caused the serious injury to Mr Georgiev. My conscience has been tormenting me ever since." But he later retracted this statement saying his comments related to another brawl.