We pay terror bride’s £100,000 legal aid bill
TERROR bride Shamima Begum has racked up almost £100,000 in taxpayerfunded legal bills in her bid to return to Britain, with the total set to soar further.
The 23-year-old has been begging to return to start a new life after fleeing East London as a teenager to link up with Islamic State jihadis in 2015.
Last month the Special Immigration Appeals Commission rejected all nine strands of Begum’s bid to return because she still poses a security risk.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said she was “not welcome on our streets”.
Now it can be revealed lawyers acting for the terror apologist have received £97,441.18 in taxpayer-funded legal aid to represent her at a SIAC immigration appeal and judicial review.
Her legal team at Birnberg Peirce has vowed to fight on, last month saying there was “no limit” to the challenges it can bring in a legal battle that could cost taxpayers up to £5million.
Begum was 15 when she left home with two school pals to join IS in Syria. Ten days after arriving, she wed Dutchborn Islamist convert Yago Riedijk.
Begum, who had three children who died, is said to have been a Kalashnikovtoting Islamic State “enforcer”. It was claimed she stitched bombs into suicide vests and tried to recruit young women. But she fled to a refugee camp after the collapse of the terror group’s caliphate.
David Spencer, research director at the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: “It frankly boggles the mind that she is still able to leach such vast sums of money off the taxpayer in legal aid.”
Prof Anthony Glees, from the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, said: “Begum is being manipulated by a group of people who are hiring top-end lawyers, and the taxpayer is paying for it.”
The Ministry of Justice said: “Legal aid is paid to legal representatives to ensure access to justice.”