Woman’s £47k bill over sex-selective abortions
A CHRISTIAN pro-life campaigner has been landed with a £47,000 legal bill after her attempt to prosecute two doctors who allegedly offered sex-selective abortions was derailed by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Aisling Hubert, who could face jail if she cannot pay, launched a private prosecution against the doctors two years ago after they were secretly filmed agreeing to arrange terminations of female foetuses for a 2012 undercover investigation.
She acted after the CPS decided not to prosecute because, despite there being ‘just sufficient’ evidence to gain a conviction, it said a trial would not be in the public interest. But Ms Hubert accused the CPS of being ‘morally wrong’ and leaving the ‘door wide open’ to sexselective abortions.
Just as the doctors were heading for trial at Manchester Crown Court, however, the CPS dramatically took over her case and immediately dropped it. The Crown Court judge then awarded the doctors’ legal costs against her, saying her case was ‘unnecessary’, and her efforts to overturn his decision in the High Court failed. Now Ms Hubert has been visited by bailiffs at her family home in Hove, East Sussex, and could face prison if she cannot pay the bill at a court hearing in September. The Christian Legal Centre, which provided Ms Hubert with legal support, said the costs were ‘disproportionate and punitive’. Pro-life Labour MP Robert Flello said the CPS should have taken on all the legal expenses once it had taken over her case. The CPS said the costs were a matter for the judge.