Multi Million Pounds Legal Aid Bill as Criminals Sue Police

Thu, 03 Sep 2009

New figures obtained by The Mirror have revealed that criminals received more than £2.5 million last year to fund legal action against the police. Law firms have been the subject of criticism in recent months after revelations of some lawyers earning vast sums from legal aid work. With some killers and rapists receiving taxpayers’ money to pay for solicitors to assist their appeals against convictions, arrests and imprisonment, there has been unrest in some quarters, with claims that it represents a misuse of taxpayers’ money.

The contentious issue of criminals benefitting from taxpayers’ money is not a new one. In 2006, 200 prisoners shared a £700,000 payout after successfully claiming that being denied drugs infringed their human rights .

More recently, the Legal Services Commission has had to defend the provision of legal aid to another criminal. 53 year old Robin Frampton, a convicted child sex offender, recently received a £3,000 payout following his arrest, with as much as £6,500 of his £17,000 legal costs covered by legal aid, with the police paying for the rest.

The police aren’t the only service facing costly payouts to cover compensation and legal fees . It was recently revealed that the NHS had to set aside £787 million in the past year to cover legal costs.
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