Killer Brady loses plea to pick lawyer
MOORS murderer Ian Brady's plea to be allowed to pick his own lawyer at taxpayers' expense was rejected by a court yesterday.
In 2013 the serial child killer lost a Mental Health Review Tribunal case after asking to be moved from his secure hospital to a prison where he claimed he could starve himself to death.
Now with a fresh tribunal due in March, he applied to London's High Court to challenge a ban on him picking his own defence lawyer using public cash.
Brady, 79, wanted to have solicitor-advocate Robin Makin, who has represented him for more than 25 years, defend him at the new “right-to-die” hearing.
But Mr Makin's firm is not a member of the Law Society's mental health panel, so is not entitled to legal aid contracts.
Suffering
Yesterday Mr Justice Morris dismissed Brady's application as “unarguable”, ruling it had “no realistic prospect of success”.
Brady's lawyers claim he is bedridden, adding: “He is terminally ill – he suffers from emphysema and has constant oxygen.”
Brady was jailed for life for five child murders in 1966 and has been at Ashworth Hospital, on Merseyside, since 1985.
His barrister Philip Engelman argued that Lord Chancellor Liz Truss should step in and protect his human rights by allowing him to use Mr Makin.
Yesterday Mr Makin said the matter will go before the Appeal Court but if Brady lost he would have no proper representation.
“It is an unedifying situation,” he added.