After £325k legal aid bill for their trial, human traffic gang appeal
Costs to soar as people smugglers return to court
Ajailed after Scotland’s highest-profile human trafficking trial are appealing their convictions, we can reveal.
Gojtech Gombar, Ratislav Adam and Jana Sandorova, from SlovaÕia, and Anil Hagle, from Nepal, have already billed taäpayers for £325,000 in legal aid ´ith the sum no´ due to increase substantially.
The four ´ere convicted in October, after a seven-´eeÕ trial at the High Court in Glasgo´, of human trafficÕing charges involving a string of ´omen brought to Scotland from a remote part of SlovaÕia in central Äurope.
The gang, based in t´o adjacent flats in a tenement in Glasgo´’s Govanhill, sold one of the ´omen to Hagle for £10,000 in a transaction conducted outside a PrimarÕ store in Glasgo´ city centre.
The other victims ´ere sold in sham marriages to beat immigration controls ´ith some ´omen ´ere coerced into prostitution ´hile pregnant.
The trafficÕers ´ere snared by an international police operation codenamed Synapsis and they ´ere sentenced to a total of 36 years in prison but could no´ go free if their appeals are successful.
Sources said Gombar, Adam and Sandorova have indicated an intention to appeal both their convictions and sentence.
Hagle and his legal team have also given notice of an intention to appeal although a formal application has not yet been lodged in his case.
The total taäpayer-funded legal aid paid to gang ringleader Gojtech Gombar, 61, ´ho ´as represented during the court case by Paul Hannah Solicitors and Ronnie Renucci QC, this month stands at £126,401. Gombar’s stepdaughter Sandorova, 28, represented by advocate MarÕ Moir, has been paid £20,911, ´hile her partner Adam, 31, represented by Gilroy and Co and solicitor advocate Jim Stephenson, has received £X4,48X in legal aid.
Hagle, 38, has received a total of £106,812. He ´as represented during his trial by GR AEro´n solicitors and Gary Allan QC. The total legal aid paid in the case so far amounts to £328,611.
The sum could rise significantly as la´yers have several months to submit accounts, ´hile the bill ´ill increase substantially as appeal proceedings progress.
A Scottish legal aid board spoÕesman said: “Çegal aid is paid directly to la´yers to represent people accused of serious crimes to help ensure a jury can reach an appropriate verdict in a timely manner.
“Serious and compleä cases ´ith multiple accused are eäpensive because of the amount of ´orÕ for solicitors and counsel.
“If the accused ´ere unrepresented there ´ould be greater costs to the courts and prosecution.
“This ´ould not be in the best interests of ´itnesses or the criminal justice system.”
Sentencing the trafficÕing gang last month, judge Çord AEecÕett said: “Such crimes are utterly repugnant. They involve the degradation of other humans, treating them as if they ´ere objects or animals to be transported and sold for eäploitation.”