Fury at £117k legal aid for father who assaulted Poppi
THE father of Poppi Worthington was awarded £117,000 in legal aid to fight for custody of his other children, it emerged yesterday.
Paul Worthington, 48, carried out a sexual assault on 13month- old Poppi just hours before she died, a family court judge said last month.
But he was given taxpayer money so he could ask a court to rule that he should care for two of Poppi’s siblings, who were taken into care after her sudden death in 2012.
Critics said if police had conducted a thorough investigation, Worthington would already be behind bars for the assault on his daughter and would never have been allowed near the two other children. Instead, taxpayers’ money was spent to support his claim he should be reunited with his family.
Figures show that since October 2013, the father- of-five has been awarded £87,318 for barrister payments and £29,450 for solicitors’ fees.
His lawyers used the money to dispute a senior judge’s findings on how Worthington brutally abused Poppi in an attempt to win back custody of his two sons.
Ten months after Poppi’s death in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, her siblings were taken into care and placed in long-term foster homes.
Medical experts were brought in to challenge Mr Justice Peter Jackson’s finding that Poppi suffered a ‘penetrative… assault’.
But they failed to convince the court that the key original findings were wrong, or that Worthington should be given access to his young children.
The failure to bring Worthington to justice has been compounded by a three-year cover-up in which the authorities tried to suppress any public knowledge of what happened to Poppi.
Details of her death in December 2012 were revealed last month with the publication of findings by High Court family judge Mr Justice Jackson.
Poppi died from injuries sustained shortly after her father, who had earlier been watching pornography on his computer, took her into his bed at the family home.
But no proper police investigation began until the following August and Worthington, who has never been charged, denies any wrongdoing.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Jackson said: ‘The situation is one in which a healthy child with no medical condition or illness was put to bed by her mother one evening and brought downstairs eight hours later by her father in a lifeless state and with troubling injuries.’
However, the judge concluded that the cause of death could not be determined.
Worthington went into hiding following the ruling. It is not yet known if he will be called to a fresh inquest ordered into Poppi’s death.
The Crown Prosecution Service has now said it is ‘reviewing’ its decision not to take any action over the case. But a catalogue of blunders by police, social workers and medical staff mean that Worthington is unlikely to face any criminal action.
Family court proceedings in relation to Poppi’s surviving siblings began in October 2013.
Cumbria County Council spent £198,500 on outside lawyers for matters relating to the youngsters’ protection.
Supermarket worker Wothington was awarded legal aid despite strict rules as to who qualifies for support from the Legal Aid Agency.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said legal aid is only granted where the case meets the statutory requirements for funding.
‘Troubling injuries’