Australian Paul "Jock" Palfreeman, accused of the stabbing murder of Andrei Monov and attempted murder of Anton Zahariev, was denied bail by the Sofia Appeals Court on January 8.

Monov died on his way to the hospital on December 28 2007, after having been stabbed in the back with a knife by Palfreeman. Zahariev was injured in the same incident.

Palfreeman has denied the accusations, claiming he acted in self-defence when the men turned on him after he intervened in a fight between the men and a Roma.

The court denied bail on the basis of the severity of the case, for which the accused could be sentenced to between 10 and 20 years in jail or life imprisonment with or without the possibility of commutation. Additionally, Palfreeman did not have a permanent address and the court considered there was a risk he would hide, mediapool.bg said.

Police prosecutors had told the court they were still examining video footage of the alleged attack captured on security cameras.

The prosecutor said a new witness had come forward, the salesman from an alcohol and cigarette booth next to the Healthcare Ministry where the incident took place.

Prosecution tried to include in the evidence a publication of the UK's Daily Telegraph, in which Palfreeman was accused of hooliganism. In the same publication, the British army, where Palfreeman was enlisted, was said to have refused help to Palfreeman. The court did not accept the publication as evidence, because it expressed the position of the author.

Palfreeman, who was a trainee soldier in the British army, wanted British defence officials present to ensure a fair and transparent hearing because of fears that police and witnesses are not being objective, Australian news.com.au said.

British army officials said because he was not in Bulgaria for official defence purposes the matter "is being treated as a consulate matter", according to a Ministry of Defence spokesman.

"One would assume it is off duty, in which case, it is a consular issue for the Australian Embassy. It's not a Defence issue," news.com.au quoted the spokesman as saying.

In making his application for bail, Palfreeman and his lawyers were highly critical of the police investigation into the alleged attacks, accusing them of failing to interview several independent witnesses, Australian theage.com.au said.

Palfreeman said the witnesses were all friends of Andrei Monov and said he could not hide as he has no id documents or money.

Andrei Monov was the son of known psychologist and teacher at the Sofia University Hristo Monov. At the funeral of Andrei Monov, there were 250 guests, including school friends, members of the Levski fanclub and government officials, mediapool.bg said.