£115k LIFERS’ DEFENCE COSTS PAID BY STATE aid for double killers
TAXPAYERS forked out £115,000 in legal costs last year to defend four convicted killers all facing murder charges for a second time.
The men ended up being jailed for life with little prospect of ever being released.
They were: Ryan Matthews, 63, who was jailed for a double murder in Devon in 1981.
His second conviction was for stabbing to death healthcare assistant Sharon Wall on a “low-security” ward at a mental health hospital in Gloucester.
Total cost £8,924.
David Mitchell, 48, was originally jailed for life in 1991 after drowning his girlfriend in the bath.
Four months after his release from jail in 2013 he killed his gay lover. Total defence cost: £26,762. Jason Gomez, 46, was serving life for the murder of his business partner Robert Jones in 2000 when he killed a fellow inmate in HMP Swaleside in Kent in March 2015. Total defence cost: £18,917.
Ian Birley, 44, was first convicted of murder in 1996. He served 18 years for that crime before being released on licence, only to kill again.
Total cost of defence: £60,777. The of defence: total legal aid bill for criminal cases last year was £881million with the majority of it paying for the defence of people facing serious charges in the Crown Courts.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, said: “Anyone facing a Crown Court trial is eligible for legal aid, subject to a strict means test.
“Depending on their means, applicants for criminal legal aid can be required to pay contributions up to the entire cost of the defence.
“The Government has cut the fees paid to lawyers in criminal legal aid cases to ensure legal aid represents better value for the taxpayer. Legal aid expenditure has been reduced by over 20% since 2010.”
John O’Connell, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Of course it is important that everyone has access to justice.
“But the legal aid system must not be abused and officials must make sure they have strict measures in place so they know all cases are genuine, while also rooting out those who do it simply because someone else is paying.”