Legal aid chiefs gave John Downey, prime suspect in IRA Hyde Park bombing, £50,000 – but snubbed victims’ families’ pleas for help
Downey received thousands in taxpayers' cash to defend himself over the 1982 atrocity - which killed four soldiers and seven horses
FAMILIES of soldiers killed in the Hyde Park bombing are furious after learning the prime IRA suspect got £50,000 legal aid — while their application was snubbed.
John Downey received the taxpayer-funded sum to defend himself over the 1982 atrocity, which killed four soldiers and seven horses.
Relatives trying to bring a civil case against Downey got nothing.
Last night Mark Tipper, brother of victim Simon Tipper, said: “What has Britain become when terror suspects are backed by the state but victims aren’t?”
Lord Tebbit, injured in the IRA Brighton bombing in 1984, said: “It does seem to me a grotesque misapplication of the rules of natural justice that the families should be treated in that way.”
The case against Downey, 65, collapsed in February 2014 after it emerged cops had wrongly told him he would never face criminal charges over the July 20, 1982, attack.
The Hyde Park Justice campaign needs to raise £110,000 by August to bring a civil case or it will fail under procedural rules.
Despite raising almost £61,000 from Sun readers, the Legal Aid Agency has refused its bid for £50,000 — the same sum it happily handed to Downey for the 2014 case.
HOW TO HELP
YOU can back the Hyde Park Justice Campaign in several ways.
Credit or debit card donations can be given at .
You can donate online using these bank details: Sort code 18-00-02, and account number 04507118.
You could also go to your own bank with the details.
Donors can also send cash or cheques to: Hyde Park Justice Campaign, Fourth Floor, 158 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9TR. Any money left over will be donated to other legal actions for serving members of the Armed Forces or victims of terrorism and their families.
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It gave £18,705.47 to solicitors Birnberg Peirce Ltd, run by human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce, and Downey’s two barristers got £20,089 and £12,966.79.
Last night Matthew Jury, of McCue & Partners, who represent the families, said: “They feel the Government cares more about the man suspected of murdering their loved ones.
"The Government won’t even meet with them. How long will the Prime Minister allow this to continue?”
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP added: “I’m appalled. We will be raising this urgently with the Secretary of State for Justice.”
HOW TO HELP
YOU can back the Hyde Park Justice Campaign in several ways.
Credit or debit card donations can be given at .
You can donate online using these bank details: Sort code 18-00-02, and account number 04507118.
You could also go to your own bank with the details.
Donors can also send cash or cheques to: Hyde Park Justice Campaign, Fourth Floor, 158 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9TR. Any money left over will be donated to other legal actions for serving members of the Armed Forces or victims of terrorism and their families.