Black cab rapist given £166,000 in legal aid

JOHN Worboys has received £166,55 in legal aid, according to figures released yesterday. The Ministry of Justice revealed the rapist was handed £7,3 7 in solicitor costs while being held in police custody and £159,207 for his Crown Court trial in 2009.

Of the larger sum, £85,70 was spent on solicitors and the remainder went on instructing barristers.

Officials released the legal aid figures following a freedom of information request.

MailOnline also asked for a figure for the cost of legal aid for his parole appeal.The ministry said it would neither ‘confirm nor deny’ it held such information. But, according to the Daily Telegraph, a request for more legal aid to fund Worboys’ defence for the Supreme Court challenge against his release was turned down because he owns a seaside hideaway. The £300,000-plus flat, where he previously starred in amateur porn films with a friend, is in Dorset.

It is unclear whether ownership of the property would have seen Worboys fail a means test for legal aid claimants in Crown Court cases. The test was introduced a year after he was convicted.

During his career of sexual offending Worboys is believed to have owned a number of properties in London and had more than £80,000 in the bank when he was finally jailed.

Harriet Wistrich, a solicitor for two of his victims, said the Worboys case had cost taxpayers millions. By contrast, his victims have had to crowdRape: fund their bid to keep him in jail.