Fury at millions used on failed parole bids by serious criminals

A RECORD amount of taxpayers' money has been used to provide lawyers for convicted criminals seeking parole - often after numerous failed previous bids.

- BY MATTHEW DAVIS

More than £73million was spent on assisting serious offenders such as rapists, murderers and paedophiles as they sought early release from prison or moves to softer jails during the past five years.

This included failed legal bids by James Bulger's killer Jon Venables, black cab rapist John Worboys and Britain's most notorious prisoner Charles Bronson, who has had at least eight unsuccessful parole hearings.

Latest Ministry of Justice figures showed almost 33,000 hearings were conducted in jails across Britain from 2020 until this year - costing the taxpayer around £2,500 on average in legal fees.

It comes after the internal workings of the parole board were seen for the first time in BBC Two documentary series Parole, which followed early release plea cases.