Bomber’s widow loses legal aid bid

THE widow of one of the 7/7 suicide bombers yesterday lost her High Court bid to overturn a decision refusing her legal aid for representation at the upcoming inquest into the deaths of 52 people in the attacks in London in 2005.

Two judges in London dismissed the challenge by Hasina Patel, whose husband was plot mastermind Mohammed Sidique Khan, over the refusal to provide her with funding. It had been argued on her behalf at a hearing earlier this week that the decision to deny her legal aid was “unfair, irrational and unlawful”.

Yesterday Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Silber said the decision by the Lord Chancellor “cannot be described as unreasonable or irrational”. Lord Justice Thomas said the court was told Patel’s position “was that she was interested to understand why her late husband and the other bombers acted as they did” and what she was seeking “was an opportunity to ask questions of witnesses at the inquest which bore on their knowledge and experience of her husband and others”.