Beyond Belief
The killer of Stephen Lawrence gets legal aid to sue after he was attacked in jail, while Charlie Gard’s parents are denied it in heartbreak fight to save their baby...
STEPHEN Lawrence killer David Norris has been given legal aid to sue prison chiefs for £10,000 after being beaten up by cons.
The move sparked fury as state cash was denied to Charlie Gard’s parents in their fight to treat him. One campaigner said: “It’s disgraceful.”
AS Charlie Gard’s parents prepare to lose their treasured son after being denied legal aid for the fight to treat him, there was outrage that a racist killer is to be handed state cash to sue prison chiefs.
Cowardly t hug David Norris, who was part of a gang that murdered Stephen Lawrence in 1993, was granted the public funding in his battle for £10,000 compensation over being beaten up by other cons.
With defence and court costs included, the case could leave taxpayers a total bill of £70,000.
But Chris Gard and Connie Yates were not given a penny in legal aid as they took on Great Ormond Street Hospital in their bid to take sick 11-month-old Charlie to the US for therapy they strongly believed would improve his life.
It came after the Tories changed the law to restrict support for legal battles. The parents’ local MP, Labour’s Seema Malhotra, last night blasted the system that allows a convicted killer state money but denies the same support for parents fighting medical professionals over life and death decisions.
She said: “It’s clear it needs overhauling. The heartbreaking case of Charlie Gard highlights why it’s wrong for parents facing this situation to not have access to legal support or for there to be so much uncertainty.” Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon added: “Ordinary people and families seeking justice shouldn’t have to rely on searching for lawyers willing to work for free or on crowdfunding to pay their legal bills.” And Labour’s justice spokesman in the House of Lords ,Jeremy Beecham, said: “The whole system has been massively undermined in the last few years. Many people have been completely denied access to justice.
“That certainly sounds to be the case in the case of this poor kid’s family. It is the sort of case where they should have had legal aid.”
Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman Ed Davey added: “This shows the legal aid system is broken and urgently needs to be fixed.”
On Monday, the High Court judge who heard Chris and Connie’s case called for financial support to be extended to families suing hospitals. Mr Justice Francis said: “It does seem to me that Parliament ... cannot have intended that parents in the position that these parents have been in should have no access to legal advice or representation. “I can think of few more profound cases than ones where a [hospital] trust is applying to the court for a declaration that a life-support machine should be switched off in respect of a child. I am aware that there are many parents around the country in similar positions. I cannot imagine that anyone ever intended parents to be in this position.”
Chris and Connie, both in their 30s and of Bedfont, West London, relied on donations from wellwishers and lawyers who worked for free to fund their battle with Great Ormond Street. Doctors there insisted the US therapy would make no difference to little Charlie, who has mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome that left him brain damaged. They ended their fight on Monday after accepting time had run out for the tragic youngster to have effective treatment.
But Norris, 40, had no trouble getting legal aid to sue the Ministry of Justice.
His successful application was revealed at
This shows the legal aid system is broken and needs to be fixed ED DAVEY LIB DEM ON CONTRASTING CASES
Central London county court yesterday. His lawyer Gwawr Thomas said: : “The claimant is now legally aided.” Norris, the son of a former South London drug trafficker who lived in an £800,000 home at the time of Stephen’s murder, is due to give evidence about the attack from Garth prison, near Preston, later this year.
The MoJ is fighting the claim, arguing Norris provoked the beating in Belmarsh jail, South East London, and failed to take “reasonable care for his own safety”. He was allegedly set upon by three inmates, including one convicted of another hate murder, in his cell with a knife and a sock filled with tins.
Norris suffered a broken nose, cuts on his face needing 18 stitches, two black eyes, broken ribs and anxiety resulting in him taking antidepressants and psychiatric treatment.
The prisoners were never charged and the MoJ say he must prove it took place and the identity of his assailants. Norris claims Leon Fyle, 28, convicted of strangling a transgender prostitute, was among them. The bleating killer also claims officials left him vulnerable by moving him to a wing with a “large number of black inmates who had shown a propensity towards violence”.
Norris and his gang stabbed 18-year-old Stephen to death as he waited at a bus stop with a friend in Eltham, South East London.
He was jailed for life in 2012 along with fellow thug Gary Dobson.
The Lawrence family were not entitled to legal aid in 1994 to launch a private prosecution against Norris and two other suspects.
Victims’ rights campaigner Harry Fletcher said: “The legal aid system is weighted in favour of perpetrators against victims.
“It’s disgraceful that many victims of domestic violence do not qualify for legal aid and have to fund themselves whereas a convicted murderer qualifies for it. It is grossly unfair.”