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06/09/01 - Killer's legal bid causes outrage
Taken from The
Northern Echo
Killer's legal bid causes outrage
PRESSURE was mounting on Home Secretary David Blunkett last
night to intervene in the case of a child killer who is suing
the man he confessed his crime to.
The Northern Echo revealed exclusively yesterday that Shaun
Armstrong, who murdered three-year-old Hartlepool youngster
Rosie Palmer, is using taxpayers' money to launch a legal bid
for up to £15,000 damages.
Armstrong claims Peterborough author Bernard O'Mahoney breached
his confidence when he wrote to him pretending to be a woman
and subsequently obtained 80 letters by "deception".
But the legal bid has outraged politicians on both sides, as
well as the Hartlepool community.
Former home office advisor to Jack Straw, Lord Mackenzie of
Framwellgate, said: "It is absolutely ludicrous. It is
standing justice on its head. "I think it is something
that could be raised with the Home Secretary if the proceedings
go ahead and even more so if he stands to benefit."
Disgusted shadow home secretary, Ann Widdecombe, said: "My
reaction to this is one of outrage and, if this is permissible
in law, then I think it is time we looked at the law. This man
has been convicted of an horrendous offence - he has no privacy
in the matters of his conviction."
Hartlepool MP Peter Mandelson said: "It is thoroughly undeserving
and the idea that he may receive any help from the tax payer
will disgust decent people." Armstrong, 39, was sentenced
to life in prison after Rosie's battered and sexually abused
body was found in a bin-liner in his first floor flat in Frederic
Street, Hartlepool.
Mr O'Mahoney took the letters he received from Armstrong to
the police, but later wrote to him to reveal his true identity
and say he planned to include them in a book he was writing.
The killer's Liverpool solicitor Elkan Abrahamson said the legal
bid was more about the fact that Armstrong wanted the letters
back and didn't want a book written about him.
Mr O'Mahoney, who is still considering writing a book, said:
"He told me he had murdered a three-year-old girl - there
can be no confidence." A Home Office spokeswoman said they
could not comment on individual cases but that prisoners did
have the same access to public funding as anyone else. |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
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