Jackson ‘has paid a huge price’
Bid to recoup rape trial bill
‘He has no offers employment’
RUGBY star Paddy Jackson’s parents used their retirement fund to help pay their son’s legal costs, a court heard as he called on prosecutors to pay his legal bill.
Mr Jackson has no current offers of employment and continues to pay an enormous personal price despite being resoundingly acquitted of rape, his lawyer Brendan Kelly QC told the court yesterday.
Mr Kelly told a judge in Belfast Crown Court that Mr Jackson, 26, had done nothing to bring the situation on himself, and said his client’s salary had been halved since he was charged last year.
Mr Jackson, and former Ulster and Ireland teammate Stuart Olding, 25, were found not guilty in March of raping the same woman at a house party in 2016.
Their friends Blane McIlroy and Rory Harrison were also acquitted of related charges.
Mr Jackson and Mr Olding, who were later sacked by Ulster and Ireland for involvement in explicit WhatsApp chats revealed during the nine-week trial, are bidding to recover their costs from Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service. Jackson had privately funded his case and his bill is estimated to be well over £100,000. Neither was in court for yesterday’s court hearing.
‘He’s paid an enormous price for the events of that evening,’ Mr Kelly said.
He also told Judge Patricia Smyth his father Peter had spent his retirement pot funding his son’s defence costs.
He said the trial had lasted almost twice as long as first envisaged, claiming that if he had been tried on his own, proceedings would have lasted as little as a week and a half.
Prosecution counsel Toby Hedworth QC argued that a dangerous precedent would be set in the region if prosecutors had to consider the financial implications of pursuing rape cases. He said Mr Jackson could have applied for legal aid when his funds ran out rather than relying on other sources. Mr Olding was granted legal aid about halfway through the trial. Only Mr Jackson’s case was aired yesterday. Judgment was reserved.