Manchester Arena victims hit out at ‘disgusting’ move to give bomber almost £200,000 in legal aid
MANCHESTER Arena victims hit out at a “disgusting” move to give almost £200,000 in legal aid to terrorist Hashem Abedi.
Taxpayers funded the convicted 22-year-old Libyan’s defence even though he sacked his legal team and refused to take part in the court process.
Victims’ families had to fill in a 17-page application for state aid for the inquest into the bloodbath at an Ariana Grande gig in 2017.
They were only granted Home Office help when it was turned into a public inquiry earlier this year.
Extradited Abedi — who plotted with his suicide bomber brother Salman, 22, — is awaiting sentence for 22 murders.
He got £187,845 in Legal Aid.
The prosecution cost £284,500.
Jade Clough, 32, who was caught in the blast with nephew Jason, said: “Why do the victims have to beg to get some money while he got all this help, that he didn’t want, for free.
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"It’s disgusting. It just makes me so angry.”
Solicitor Shane Smith said: “Before this became an inquiry the families were having to go through a long, quite tedious, invasive and largely irrelevant process.”
The Ministry of Justice said the independent Legal Aid Agency made funding decisions and Abedi “did not receive a penny of this money”.
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