Jailed Al-Qaeda chief receives £800k in legal aid to appeal his conviction

Ahmed, said to have had links to the 7/7 London bombers who killed 52 in 2005, was found with notebooks ­listing details of terror contacts ­written in invisible ink.

He was also suspected of having contact with extremists behind the failed bomb plot in the capital two weeks later.

Rochdale-born Ahmed was arrested in Pakistan.

He was the first person convicted in the UK on a charge of directing a terrorist organisation.

Yet he has received £782,407 in taxpayer-funded hand-outs, a Sun on Sunday freedom of information request found.

It includes £589,667 to pay for a barrister and lawyers in court, plus £121,892 for a failed appeal against conviction in 2011.

He also got £60,435 towards a civil action against police as well as a further £306 for “legal help”.

He has a parole hearing next month and MP David Davies branded the payments “an outrage”.

He said: “He shouldn’t be walking the streets yet he is receiving vast amounts of taxpayers’ money in order to enable him to do so.”

The Legal Aid Agency said anyone facing crown court trial is eligible for help “subject to a
strict means test.”

Source: The Sun