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1. So, how does a millionaire get legal aid? Let us take a closer look at this story dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6…
2. Legal aid in the crown court is subject to 2 types of means test, one looks at 'income', normally wages etc, but it can be any type of income, the other looks at capital - so savings or equity in a home for example.
3. if disposable income is >£37,500 then legal aid will be refused. So in this case, possibly as the man is retired, he must have passed this means test in order for legal aid to be granted. So he was treated no differently to anyone else.
4. of course, he may have capital, said to be 'millions' in this article, but do we want people to sell homes in order to defend themselves? Would this not cause delay? But this isn't the end of the matter anyhow....read on
5. Had he been convicted, and assuming that this story is true (a big ask given the shit they publish on a daily basis), he would have paid the entirety of his defence costs, said to be some £170,000 (or is it £300,000 the story changes as it goes along). That would be fair.
6. BUT BUT BUT he was ACQUITTED. So another way of writing this headline is "Innocent Man Does Not Pay for His Legal Defence". Again, most people would think that fair.
7. But, he will be happy with that £170,000 he had, or was it £300,000 - EXCEPT, that HE GOT NOTHING. Legal aid is not paid to defendants, it is paid to their defence solicitors, barristers and experts.
8. Whichever figure is the true one, there is more to consider. Much of it is VAT, paid back to the government, these costs are extremely high by any measure and therefore I am very confident that a lot of this will have gone to experts in aviation. This was an extremely
9. complex case, justice isn't always cheap and cheerful, the search for the truth can be time-consuming and extremely expensive. The lawyers would have been paid rates that are FIXED by the government -they cannot charge what they want.
10. Many people would think that legal aid should be more readily granted for inquests, but two wrongs do not make a right. If you were accused of manslaughter you would expect legal assistance, after all it is what he no doubt paid his taxes for, for many years,
11. Legal aid is an important part of the welfare state. So be angry about the inquests, but don't be angry about the criminal justice process taking place in the fairest most equitable way possible.
Milly Vincent at the @MailOnline knows this of course, she rights this rubbish because she isn't a proper journalist and unfortunately has to peddle this rubbish for a living. I feel sorry for you.
*writes*
