Nobody really believes Liverpool fan Michael Shields hit a Bulgarian barman on the head with a paving stone after Liverpool won the European Cup in 2005. But Shields was sentenced to 15 years and is now serving his sentence for attempted murder, since reduced to ten years, in Warrington. It's pretty clear that the Bulgarian authorities let him come home in the expectation that their British counterparts would let him out of jail quietly and discreetly. But the ever-barmier justice secretary Jack Straw (who decided to keep 79-year old ruin Ronnie Biggs in jail earlier this week) has turned down Shields' appeal on the grounds that there's no new evidence. But there was insufficient evidence in the first place to convict him. So why is Mad Jack keeping him in the slammer? It can't be votes can it? The veteran minister has clearly lost his marbles. Which doesn't help Michael Shields unfortunately.