Compensation bid by Rigby’s killer will cost you £75,000
THE murderer of Fusilier Lee Rigby could cost taxpayers £75,000 in a compensation battle over his claims that prison officers have left him mentally scarred.
Al Qaeda-inspired extremist Michael Adebolajo has lodged legal papers at the High Court in London seeking damages after he had two teeth knocked out in prison.
The 32-year-old killer claims in a court writ that he was left with a ‘psychiatric injury’ when prison officers escorting him from his cell tried to restrain him after he lashed out violently.
Adebolajo is suing the Ministry of Defence for £25,000 after claiming to ‘suffer distress, loss and damage’ in the incident on remand at high-security Belmarsh Prison in south-east London in July 2013.
But the case is expected to end up costing the public purse an extra £75,000 to cover the costs of the police investigation into the incident and the fees of the Government’s lawyers.
Father-of-six Adebolajo, of Romford, Essex, and his accomplice Michael Adebowale, 26, murdered Fusilier Rigby as he walked in broad daylight near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, south-east London, in May 2013.
The 25-year-old Afghanistan war veteran, who was off- duty, was butchered by the two cleaver-wielding Muslim fanatics as he lay stricken in the road after being mown down by their car.
They were jailed for life. The pair received £200,000 in legal aid to fund their defences.
Last night Fusilier Rigby’s devas-
‘Now he wants blood money’
tated mother Lyn, from Middleton, Manchester, branded the cash claim ‘blood money’.
She said: ‘This vile killer is rubbing salt into our wounds. It is a disgrace that he would even think of asking for compensation.
‘For me, it is the clearest proof that he has no remorse or shame for murdering my son.
‘I’m sure this is all about antagonising the system and trying to get attention. He deserves nothing but contempt. He cares not one bit about what he has put my family through. He took everything from us and now he wants blood money.
‘He hasn’t suffered. He doesn’t know the meaning of pain. If he walked one day in my shoes he would know about real suffering.
‘He lost a few teeth because he was violent and was brought under control by guards. Lee lost his life and I lost my son at his hands.’
Defence papers submitted by the Ministry of Justice revealed that prison warders regarded Adebolajo as ‘extremely volatile’.
On the day of the incident, he was being escorted back to his cell after a phone call when he dropped his hand from behind his head and suddenly spun round.
An officer, fearing an attack, moved to restrain him, according to MoJ papers. Adebolajo claims he was ‘verbally abused’ then smashed into bars of his cell windows. A six-week investigation cleared the officers of blame. They all returned to work at Belmarsh.
Under measures introduced by the Ministry of Justice in April 2013, people launching claims for personal injuries are not allowed to fund their cases through legal aid. It is not clear how Adebolajo is funding his case.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘The public will be rightly outraged at the thought of this offender claiming compensation from the taxpayer. We will be robustly defending this matter.’