A MAN who was sentenced to 29 years in prison after admitting to killing three generations of the same family in a house fire in Derrylin has received legal aid of over £90,000.
In February, Daniel Sebastian Allen was jailed for a minimum of 29 years in prison before he can be considered for release after he was found guilty of the murders of Denise Gossett 45, her son Roman 16 and daughter Sabrina 19 whose baby daughter Morgana Quinn, also perished in the blaze.
Since the incident which occurred on February 27, 2018 at Molly Road, Derrylin, Mr Allen, pictured below, has received legal aid from solicitors amounting to £66,061.46, according to the Belfast Telegraph.
They recently revealed that Mr Allen has received a further counsel costing £24,565.19.
After maintaining his innocence since 2018, Mr Allen, 32, changed his plea at the last minute, just before his trial at Dungannon Crown Court sitting in Craigavon was scheduled to start.
Provided by the Legal Services Agency, which is sponsored by the Department of Justice, legal aid is granted to people who can’t afford to pay for legal aid or representation in court.
Legal aid for Mr Allen’s case has amounted to £90,626.65.
Democratic Unionist Party MLA, Joanne Bunting, who is also the chairwoman of the Stormont Assembly Justice Committee, has called for ‘greater transparency’ around legal aid.
“My view is that justice must be fair and blind,” the DUP MLA told the Belfast Telegraph.
“The fundamental tenet of British justice is that people are innocent until proven guilty so where the PPS [Public Prosecution Service] has considerable resources to prosecute, people are entitled to a defence, however unpalatable that may be in the outworking’s of certain cases.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice did not comment on Mr Allen’s case.
“While the Department of Justice does not comment on individual cases, in all criminal cases the granting of criminal legal aid is a matter of the court,” they said.
Mr Allen did not receive the full whole-life tariff. He’ll be eligible for parole in 2047, taking into account the time that he has already served in prison.
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