Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TAXI RAPIST WORBOYS ‘GIVEN £3K LEGAL AID’
Victims’ outrage at state help
TAXI rapist John Worboys got at least £3,000 in legal aid to help his bid for freedom, campaigners claim.
Meanwhile his victims are denied such state help as they battle to keep him behind bars.
As a prisoner serving an indeterminate term Worboys, 60, would be eligible for legal aid if he had under £3,000 savings and earned less than £12,000 a year.
Harry Fletcher of the Victims Rights Campaign said: “All parole cases like his are legally aided, in contrast to the victims who get no state aid.
“The whole parole system is biased in favour of the prisoner.”
At last year’s Parole Board hearing that approved his release, Worboys was represented by a lawyer who commissioned a report from an independent psychologist, with a total cost estimated at £3,000.
His victims do not qualify for the funding, their lawyers said.
They have not been told if Worboys got a grant, and the Ministry of Justice would not say whether he did or not.
Lawyer Harriet Wistrich has lodged a judicial review on behalf of two victims, along with London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The two victims are crowdfunding the High Court fight.
Worboys was jailed for a minimum of eight years in 2009 for drugging and sexually assaulting 12 passengers. SIR Elton John is in thincredible shape on his farewell tour poster.
In fact, the 70-year-old’s appearance in his latest official snap looks too good to be true.
He was still clearly a big star when he appeared at Gotham Hall in New York on Wednesday to reveal his epic run of 300 dates.
So some fans wondered if the shoot had involved airbrushing as well as hair and make-up work.
One said of the apparent image tweaks: “You are not that slim!!! That is not honest.”
Elton revealed this week that he will be bringing the curtain down on touring after the huge tour, which will last three years.
He said: “I don’t want to go out with a whimper, I want to go out with a big bang. I can’t physically do the travelling any more.
“I want to be home with my children more. I’ve had a good run.”
The singer has said he intends to remove sons Zachary, seven, and Elijah, five, from school and bring them on the road for a nine-month stint, accompanied by a tutor.
Elton’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour kicks off in America in September. UK tour dates are yet to be confirmed.