Nigel Evans

[Nennypops]

Am I right in thinking that, if he succeeds in his claim to get costs back from the CPS, he would only get them at legal aid rates, i.e. well short of the 130K that he has actually spent? That would be richly ironic, given that it's the government of which he is a part which brought that provision in.

I fully agree.

Look at this for a fuller analysis of this issue.

storify.com/anyapalmer/a-tax-on-innocence

Is anyone else surprised that a childless MP of 22 yrs should only have lifesavings of 130k?

Well, he didn't have to have a QC did he? In many cases now, including very serious ones, legally aided defendants will have to make do with a more junior barrister when as I understand it in previous years they would have had a QC. If you could not have one on legal aid, why should the cost of a privately funded QC be reimbursed to you?

And yes, a big fat slice of irony (topped with a sprinkling schadenfreude).