http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7386697.stm
Quote:
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Originally Posted by BBC
A drugs offender has escaped having about £1.5m of his assets seized because he could not find a barrister to represent him for a legal aid fee.
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which allowed the man, who had been jailed for plotting to supply cannabis, to hold on to assets estimated at £4.5 million.
His assets had been frozen while the Crown Prosecution Service began proceedings to confiscate one-third of them, arguing they were the product of the man's criminal lifestyle.
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I would argue there should be ways to force lawyers to take on cases for legal aid rather than letting them cherrypick the lucrative cases.
About four hundred quid to stand up in court.
Say
"My client pleads not guilty and wishes to apply to be released on Bail, he'll be a good boy, honest. I know he's already on bail 4 times over already but he's changed, honest gov... errr My lordship"
Then in a few months time
"I know I said he's pleading Not Guilty but I can't get him off on that, I know I've wasted the time of the Police, Courts and witnesses but he'll plead guilty and take the 1/3rd off the sentence thank-you-very-much. Oh and please don't send my client to jail, he's had a hard life and stuck in a spiral of drugs and light-fingeredness but he's changed now, honest. Plus when he gets lifted again I'll trouser another couple of hundred quid from the system for defending the horrible wee scrote."