People trying to help Shields in court, it would seem, have screwed him. They've tried to play the courts, creating so many 'alibis' that it's impossible to treat any of them seriously. What are the odds that 2 different people, at gone 3am, would head off to his room, enter, see him in bed and leave? Maybe he did it, maybe he didn't, there's not enough clear evidence to clear him at this point, certainly not enough to counteract 3 separate individuals saying it WAS him. The Sankey confession is pure bollocks, his account of what he did to the Bulgarian waiter doesn't match the facts of what the witnesses saw, or the injuries he suffered. He's basically made up the 'confession' assuming Shields would get off and he'd never have to serve time. He's now taken it back because Shields is STILL in jail and he, no doubt, was getting all sorts of pressure from the people of Liverpool who viewed him as the guilty party and the guy who's keeping St Michael of Scouseland behind bars.