A BLACKBURN man serving 32 years for murder in America fears he will be forced to ‘kill or be killed’ in jail.

Andrew Sharkey, who grew up in Mowbray Avenue, Higher Croft, was dubbed a ‘cold blooded killer’ when sentenced to life last month for garrotting a neighbour during a robbery in California.

In a letter to the Lancashire Telegraph, the 38-year-old said he was the victim of 'a severe miscarriage of justice'.

CLICK ON THE GALLERY LINK BELOW TO READ SHARKEY'S LETTER IN FULL

The former Our Lady and St John Catholic Arts College pupil accused his accomplice, Gary Scott, of being responsible for the killing.

And in a seven-page, handwritten letter, sent before he is transferred to a prison reserved for the most dangerous US criminals, Sharkey said he:

• Has witnessed prisoners stab other cons while guards are distracted and has been told he must do the same or face the consequences

• Was a successful electronic technician before he became addicted to crystal meth

• Set up a legal medical marijuana growing firm but was threatened by a business partner to take part in the robbery

• Didn’t know anybody had been killed until the next day

• Could not afford a private lawyer to take on his case and did not get a fair hearing because he was a foreigner

Sharkey, who is being held at Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility in Santa Rosa, has always denied being Michael van Tillman’s killer.

He claims Scott slipped a steel wire around the 67-year-old’s throat while the two were stealing $45,000 in cash from a drawer in his Guerneville home, above the garage where Sharkey and Scott legally grew cannabis, on June 25, 2009.

Scott, 58, who was charged with accessory to murder, was sentenced in December to three years probation in exchange for his cooperation with prosecutors.

Sharkey entered a no-contest plea to the murder but later withdrew the plea – accusing his lawyers of providing ineffective defence and asking for a trial.

His request was denied and he was sentenced to at least 32 years in prison.

Sharkey said: “Now I’ll never get out of prison, ever. I’m stuck in prison for life away from my family for a murder I did not commit and the real killer is free for saying it was me.

“Because of the nature of the crime I will be put in the most violent of prisons in America.

“Gang violence is rampant within the prisons, people get stabbed, beaten and raped every day.

“Even here in the county jail the violence is astounding. I’ve watched people get stabbed while someone distracts the guard.

“I’ve been told that once I get to prison proper that I will be ordered to stab someone and if I don’t then I’ll be the one getting stabbed.

“The prison politics between the inmates could get someone killed for a small thing like accepting food from someone not of your race, being in the wrong gang or being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Believe me when I say I’m very, very scared.”

Sentencing Sharkey last month, Judge Arthur Wick said he was 'a serious danger to society' with a lengthy criminal history.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Diana Gomez branded him a ‘pathological liar’ and a ‘cold blooded killer’, who she said had repeatedly attempted to shift blame onto others.

But Sharkey, who said he set up his cannabis business after becoming the carer of a widowed mum-of-two with AIDS who was entitled to smoke the drug on medical grounds, said: “I am absolutely disgusted at how I have been treated.

"I was told that if I signed a plea deal I would not be admitting guilt to the murder, just my involvement in the robbery, and that my court appointed lawyer could work it so I could come home to England and be near my ageing mother to serve my time.

“The photographs of my mother I have here in my cell are what give me strength and stop me from going bonkers."

He claims he never took Scott seriously about taking the money but he was left fearing for his safety when he was threatened.

He said: “Whenever Gary mentioned to me taking the money it was always said jokingly.

“I never took him seriously until Wednesday, June 22, 2009. I said it was not going to happen and then Gary threatened me. I was shocked.

“Gary said he would take care of Mike and for me to find the cash.

“I was very scared, I knew Gary had weapons and I feared for my own safety.”

Sharkey said he stole the money, before returning to find Scott in the pensioner’s living room.

He said: “I saw that Mike was seated in his arm chair and Gary was standing directly behind him.

“I was focused hard on Gary so as not to show fear or guilt to Mike, I don’t even know if Mike observed me. I gave a quick nod to Gary and left the flat.

“I didn’t know Mike was dead until the next day and then I panicked.

“I went to the police. While there Gary, who had fled the state with $43,000 worth of pot and half of the $45,000, called the police and said that I was the killer.

“Gary, a homeless, jobless guy somehow affords to hire a lawyer, is allowed to bail out, and for his agreement to tell the jury it was me, would get away with the crime."