Huge round sum to ditch old £1 coins

TAXPAYERS have forked out £5.5million disposing of 1.5 billion old £1 coins.

The sum includes £4.6million for crushing the round pounds so they could no longer be used.

Another £865,017 was spent by the Treasury collecting the old coinage.

The £1 coins were replaced by 12-sided ones in March last year and ceased to be legal tender six months later.

They were later sold for “melting down elsewhere”, it was reported.

Experts claim about one in every 50 were fake.

Around 200 million of the coins are believed to be still in circulation.

The Treasury supplied the information following a Freedom of Information request. THE man who murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler was part of a child sex gang whose other members are still on the loose, a council report warns.

Levi Bellfield and his pals are said to have preyed on underage girls, allegedly luring at least one to a “raping room” in his flat. In a report handed to police, a senior social worker said the serial killer, who is currently serving two whole-life tariffs, was part of a group which targeted at least 17 vulnerable girls.

Debbie Weissang warns that six other men pose a “serious threat” to children, it was reported yesterday.

Weissang, previously child sexual exploitation manager at Hillingdon Council in West London, claims the seven gang members targeted under 16s who were often from children’s homes.

She said: ”Young children from children’s homes have been groomed and sexually exploited by Bellfield’s gang.

“Some of those people have currently

LIFE IN JAIL Levi Bellfield is serving time for three murders Bellfield killed the schoolgirl in 2002 French student, 22, murdered in 2004 She was 19 when she died in 2003 Survived murder attempt in 2004

OLD MONEY £1 coins