Hate preacher Abu Hamza is about to present taxpayers with a whopping £800,000 bill for legal fees he was meant to cover. Two years ago, Hamza was ordered by the courts to pay the £1,000,000 defence costs in his trial – but what has he actually paid?
Nothing.
The judge recommended that one of Hamza’s houses should be sold as a contribution. But it looks like Hamza has managed to wriggle out of that one, by claiming the house belongs to his sister – who lives in Egypt.
And property experts note that even if the 1930s property in Greenford, West London, is grabbed it will probably fetch only £200,000 instead of its original £235,000 valuation.
A Whitehall source said last night: “If nothing else is found it means the taxpayer will have to pay £800,000 for the shortfall.”
A spokesman for the Legal Services Commission, which oversees the legal aid system, said: “We will go to court to apply for the seizure of the property. We are waiting for a date.”
Conservative MP Patrick Mercer is more candid: “This is Abu Hamza continuing to thumb his nose.”
Hamza was jailed for seven years, in 2006, on a charge of soliciting murder.
A Jew With A View 
Good point!
We all need to write to our MPs and protest over this latest story, and also write to the papers.
I’d like to see the same amount of outrage over this as there has been about MPs claiming their expenses. What is the world coming to?