Six of UK’s most vile murderers were handed £380,000 in legal aid last year – while Hyde Park bombing victims’ families are left without help
The six killers were awarded huge sums of taxpayers’ cash before getting 'whole life' sentences
THE six murderers who got £380,000 in legal aid last year killed 14 victims between them, The Sun can reveal.
They were all awarded huge sums in taxpayers’ cash before getting “whole life” sentences.
The largest amount went to gay serial killer Stephen Port, who received around £136,000.
Other beneficiaries included Thomas Mair, who got more than £75,000 after murdering MP Jo Cox.
It comes after we revealed how the prime suspect in the 1982 IRA Hyde Park bombing was given £50,000 by the Legal Aid Agency.
By contrast, the LAA has refused to help the victims’ families pursue a civil claim against the suspected bomber John Downey.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, one of ten DUP MPs keeping Theresa May in power, said the LAA’s inaction had been “appalling” — and called for a review after the new figures emerged.
He added: “We have multiple murderers who have received legal aid from the state.
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“This clearly suggests the current system is in urgent need of review and reform.
“Given our important role in government we have every intention of taking the case to the Justice Secretary and, in turn, to the PM.”
The six “whole life” murderers granted legal aid to defend themselves include double-killing cab driver Christopher Halliwell.
Halliwell, 53, was jailed for murdering clubber Sian O’Callaghan, 22, in 2012. Last year he was also convicted of killing Becky Godden, who vanished in Swindon in 2003.
Halliwell — branded “calculating and devious” by a judge — was given £49,622 by the LAA.
Another double-murderer Anthony Ayres, 50, who killed mum-of-one Kelly Pearce in 2015, got £50,746.
Ayres, of Canvey Island, Essex, already served 18 years for killing then-lover Dawn Wisdom, 30.
Convicted killer Russell Oliver, 47, was given £45,103 in legal aid after murdering a fellow inmate at HMP Long Lartin, near Evesham, Worcs.
He was already serving life for beating another man to death in 2013.
Also on the list was Arthur Simpson-Kent, 50, who murdered his partner, ex-EastEnders actress Sian Blake, 43, and their sons Zachary, eight, and Amon, four, in 2015.
Simpson-Kent — who buried them in the back garden of his home in Erith, South East London — got £22,909.
In recent months it emerged Thomas Mair, 53, who killed Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall, West Yorks, got £75,186. Stephen Port, 42, of Barking, East London, who killed four gay men, was awarded the highest amount of legal aid — with his bill hitting £136,391.
It comes after IRA man Downey, 65, got £50,000 to defend himself at his 2014 trial, which later collapsed due to government blunders.
The victims’ families have since launched the Hyde Park Justice Campaign to help bring a civil case against him. Generous Sun readers have donated almost £77,000 while the LAA has refused to help — claiming it is “not in the public interest”.
Last night Mark Tipper, brother of Trooper Simon Tipper, 19, who was killed in the atrocity, said the families have been ignored.
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.
He asked: “How is it that alleged perpetrators of terrorism, murder and child abuse are readily handed millions in legal aid by the state, while victims of those crimes get little to no help at all?”
An LAA spokeswoman said last night: “We’ve thoroughly considered this application but it does not meet the conditions to qualify for funding.”
For more on this story listen to Julia Hartley-Brewer from 10am
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Christopher Halliwell, 53
Murdered two clubbers
£49,622
EVIL former cab driver Christopher Halliwell was convicted of murdering clubbers Sian O’Callaghan, 22, and Becky Godden, 20.
Halliwell was a father of three who regularly used prostitutes. Cops say he had a brutal childhood and had “issues” with women.
He was first jailed for life for killing Sian in 2012.
He was then sentenced to a “whole life” tariff last year for the 2003 murder of Becky.
Cops fear he may have killed more after he boasted he wanted to be a serial killer like his idol Myra Hindley.
Arthur Simpson-Kent, 50
Murdered partner & two sons
£22,909
FORMER EastEnders star Sian Blake, 43, was beaten to death by her ex Arthur Simpson-Kent who also killed their sons Zachary, eight, and Amon, four.
He then buried their bodies in his back garden before using a friend’s bank card to book a £900 flight to his native Ghana.
Detectives arrested him as he hid on a beach and he was extradited back to the UK.
Simpson-Kent told a psychiatrist “something just snapped in me” before he hit Sian in the head with an axe.
He was given a whole life tariff at the Old Bailey last October.
Anthony Ayres, 50
Murdered lover & mum
£50,746
EVIL Anthony Ayres was released on licence in 2012 after serving 18 years for murdering his then-girlfriend Dawn Wisdom, 30.
But in 2015 he launched another murderous attack — this time against mum-of-one Kelly Pearce, 36.
He stabbed her at a friend’s flat and battered her to death with a hammer.
The attack was so brutal that Miss Pearce’s jugular vein was pierced by one of the blows.
Thomas Mair, 53
Slaughtered MP Jo Cox
£75,186
WHITE supremacist Thomas Mair killed MP Jo Cox in a “planned and pre-meditated murder” in the run-up to last year’s EU referendum.
Mair shot then stabbed Jo multiple times as she was about to hold a constituency meeting.
Cops found a Third Reich golden eagle featuring a swastika on top of Mair’s bookcase.
There were also Nazi badges, as well as far-right books and magazines.
Stephen Port, 42
Fiend who killed four men
£136,391
SERIAL killer Stephen Port targeted gay men on dating app Grindr.
He drugged and killed Daniel Whitworth, 21, Jack Taylor, 25, Anthony Walgate, 23, and Gabriel Kovari, 22.
He lied to police, disposed of his victim’s mobile phones and planted a fake suicide note on one victim.
Russell Oliver, 47
Beat man to death & killed lag
£45,103
RUSSELL Oliver was sentenced to life in jail for beating a man to death in 2013.
He then murdered a fellow inmate while serving his sentence at Long Lartin maximum security jail.
The killing was described as “brutal, sadistic and senseless” by a judge.