UK citizen Michael Shields (19) was found guilty of attempted murder in Varna and sentenced to 15 years in prison, at initial close confinement. 
Shields, a Liverpool native, would get to choose whether to serve the time in Bulgaria or the UK.
The verdict can be appealed within 15 days.
The Varna Regional Court handed down the sentence on July 26. Shields has maintained his innocence amid a separate confession from another Liverpool native, Graham Sankey, that he himself hit 25-year-old bartender Martin Georgiev with a 3.5 kg stone slab over the head, sending him into a coma on May 30 in the Golden Sands resort.
According to the prosecution and eyewitnesses, Georgiev tried to stop a brawl among drunken UK fans of the Liverpool FC outside a bar in the resort, when Shields hit him with the slab and left him on the ground with a broken skull and an exposed brain. 
Shields, Sankey and about 100 Liverpool FC fans were on vacation in Golden Sands after attending the final game of the Champions League in Istanbul several days earlier.
The court found the other defendant, Anthony Wilson, also 19, guilty of possession of 7.24 grams of hashish and sentenced him to 2.5 years suspended sentence with four years probation.
Both Shields and Wilson were found not guilty of hooliganism but were sentenced to pay a fine of 900 leva each for "indecent actions, grossly violating the public order and demonstrating disrespect for society".
The court also sentenced Shields to pay 200 000 leva in damages to Georgiev, who in spite of his health condition, was present at court.
Shields must also pay 9429 leva in state fees and trial costs.
Wilson, who was set free on bail of 200 leva and forbidden to leave the country until his sentence comes into effect, must pay 303 leva to cover court expenses.
According to reports in the Liverpool Echo (not related to The Sofia Echo), on July 23 Snakey, through his solicitor, David Kirwan, released a statement that he had smashed Georgiev's head.
Sankey, however, has only made a verbal statement that the Varna court refused to consider as valid testimony.
Sankey was among those arrested by Varna police but had been released after a brief interview.
The other man arrested, Bradley Thompson, was fined and released.
Later Thompson signed a statement that he had not seen Shields anywhere near the bar at the time of the attack.
Shields himself, as well as his hotel roommate Geoff Hughes, said Shields went to his room around 2 am and went to sleep.
Shields had been seen walking into his room at that time by a porter in the hotel in which they were staying.
The attack happened around 5 am. 
According to reports, on the plane back home Sankey had been overheard boasting that he had "won the lottery".
Kirwan said that upon hearing the news of Shields' sentence, Sankey was "appalled" but that his client was not willing to stand trial in Bulgaria.
According to the Liverpool Echo, the local police said that they do not have the power to arrest Sankey and if he went to them making a statement that he was Georgiev's attacker, the only thing they could do is pass on the information to the Bulgarian police.
Pressure upon UK authorities to intervene in the case has been mounting.
According to reports in the Liverpool Echo, Louise Ellman, member of parliament for the Riverside constituency in which Shields lives, who is supporting the family, wrote a letter to UK prime minister Tony Blair demanding "strong representations to the Bulgarian authorities to ensure that justice will be done".
According to the same newspaper, a Liverpool FC player, Jamie Carragher also called on Blair to intervene to win a reprieve for Shields.
In a posting on The Sofia Echo forum from July 28, the Liverpool-based real estate agency Southern Comfit International announced that it would discontinue doing business in Bulgaria.
"In view of continuing political unrest in the Bulgarian Parliament, and the questionable verdict regarding Michael Shields imprisonment, Southern Comfit is suspending indefinitely all sales of Bulgarian properties... It will furthermore suggest that those companies trading in the Bulgarian market consider whether their continuing to do so is in the best interests of their clients," the statement read in part.