Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Telford monsters granted £2.5m in legal aid
LEGAL aid for Telford child sex monsters came to nearly £2.5million.
It was spent defending seven culprits who were brought to justice after a police investigation which identified a potential 200 suspects.
Now – after a Sunday Mirror investigation last month found up to 1,000 youngsters may have been abused – victims are furious over the amount they say would have been better spent helping survivors. Killer Azhar Ali Mehmood, who murdered 16-year-old sex abuse victim Lucy Lowe and her mum and sister in the Shropshire town, was granted £130,000 for his defence at his 2000 trial which ended in a life sentence.
He never faced abuse charges, but almost 10 years later a police investigation into the Telford grooming scandal was launched which led to convictions of seven abusers in 2013.
They included rapist Ahdel Ali whose legal aid cost £470,812, his brother Mubarek (£424,228), Mohammed Islam Choudhrey (£350,000), Mohammed Ali Sultan (£398,205), Mohammed Younis (£269,387), Mahroof Khan (£443,732).
Abdul Rouf (£329,469) walked free, but the judge ordered a child prostitution charge should lie on file. A victim raped by Sultan said: “I’m shocked to hear so much public money helped these men.
“It begs the question what could £3 million do for survivors. Many of us have needed extensive, specialist therapy.”