More than £220,000 of taxpayers’ cash has been spent on lawyers to defend three of the north and north-east’s highest-profile killers.
People facing criminal prosecution in Scotland, who cannot afford to instruct a lawyer, are entitled to claim free representation through a Scottish Government scheme called Legal Aid.
Now, new figures have revealed the amount of legal aid claimed by three of the most notorious murderers to face our courts in recent years.
In March this year, family and friends of Aberdeen University scientist Brenda Page finally saw her killer brought to justice after more than 40 years.
Ex-husband Christopher ‘Kit’ Harrisson, 82, was found guilty of her murdering Brenda by violently and viciously battering to death with a blunt instrument at her flat in 1978.
Following the trial at the High Court in Aberdeen, Judge Lord Richardson sentenced Harrisson to life with a minimum period of 20 years before he would be eligible for parole.
And it can now be revealed the cost to the public purse in legal fees and outlays was £118,722.
In February, William MacDowell, 81, died in prison just five months into a life sentence for the double murder of Renee MacRae and their son Andrew, 3, in the Highlands in 1976.
MacDowell was found guilty of murdering the pair, whose bodies have never been found, after a three-week trial at the High Court in Inverness.
For 46 years Mrs MacRae’s family had searched for justice.
His conviction was one of the biggest moments in modern Scottish legal history and brought to an end one of Scotland’s longest-running murder mysteries.
The cost of that case in solicitor and counsel fees and outlays was £89,277.
In September 2022, the country was rocked by the “unimaginably wicked” rape and murder of Aberdeen mum-of-two Jill Barclay.
In May this year at the High Court in Edinburgh, Rhys Bennett pled guilty to crimes that a judge branded “medieval in their barbarity”.
Judge Lord Arthurson sentenced him to a minimum of 24 years in prison for the assault, rape and murder and four years for attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
Bennett assaulted the former Hazlehead Academy pupil by repeatedly striking, kicking and stamping on her head and body at Farburn Gatehouse in Dyce.
The charge described how Bennett also struck Jill’s head against a downpipe and inflicted blunt and sharp force trauma to her head and body.
Bennett also admitted dragging Jill along the ground, compressing her neck, placing clothing and other items underneath her body as she lay on the ground, pouring petrol on her and the clothing – along with other items – and setting fire to her.
It can now be revealed the cost of legal assistance paid to solicitors and counsel in fees and outlays was £12,787.
The reason the cost of Bennett’s case was lesser is that he pled guilty without taking the matter to trial.
Combined, the total Legal Aid costs for the Bennett, Harrisson and MacDowell cases was £220,786.
A spokesman for the Scottish Legal Aid Board said: “By paying solicitors to represent people accused of serious crimes, including those viewed as being of an abhorrent nature, legal aid helps ensure the justice system works effectively to reach an appropriate verdict in a timely manner.
“With historical cold cases, reinvestigations by their nature will involve more disclosure and documentary evidence which inevitably incur substantial fees and outlays, but we work with legal teams to ensure public funds are used as effectively as possible.”
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