confession and refused to return to Bulgaria to be interviewed by police or appear in court, it was inadmissible as evidence there. The memo states that Graham Sankey, Anthony Wilson and Bradley Thompson "refused to cooperate entirely with Merseyside police during the inquiry". No explicit identification of Witness A was made in the police report. However, a later memo on 1 May 2009 after discussion with QC David Perry and Tim Jewill, head of the criminal law team at the Ministry of Justice, Brian McNeill "accepted the decision of the Bulgarian courts is to be treated as final and the legal process regarding any appeal by Shields in that country (Bulgaria) has been exhausted", whilst expressing the opinion that had Shields's defence presented the evidence of Witness A for consideration that in the UK "this case would now be referred back to the court of appeal or to the criminal case review commission." Such an interpretation has been seized as evidence of Shields' "innocence" by his supporters. The reasons that Shields' defence did not present the evidence of Witness A, and the nature, validity and presence of that evidence has not been made clear. Release On 9 September 2009, Shields was given a royal pardon and released. His solicitor John Weate said: "I have spoken to Michael and he has been told that Jack Straw has granted a royal pardon. He was informed of the decision by the governor this morning. He was ecstatic and I'm delighted that an innocent man is finally being freed." Controversy There was significant controversy at the time concerning the Royal Pardon issued to Shields. The then Home Secretary Jack Straw refused to explain the reasoning for the pardon, stating "I will not set out all the evidence that has come to light. Suffice it to say that there is very good reason to believe I was being told the truth." The use of the word 'evidence' is particularly tenuous as it is thought the only evidence presented to Straw was verbal 'evidence' submitted by Shields' family and Graham Sankey possibly under duress. A friend of Sankey alleged When Sankey turned up to speak with Kirwan [the Shields family's solicitor] he was absolutely terrified. He was with his family and they just said they had received serious threats on members of the family and Graham. All Kirwan got was, "I want to say something in