Two thugs who killed Garry Newlove got £15k in legal aid to try cut their prison sentences

TWO thugs who beat dad-of-three Garry New­love to death got thousands of pounds in legal aid as they tried to cut their prison sentences.

Jordan Cunliffe and Stephen Sorton received £15,000 for legal bills.

PA:Press Association

Garry Newlove was kicked to death outside his home in Cheshire in 2007[/caption]

Cunliffe, now 27, and Sorton, 29, were referred to the Parole Board just 11 years after they were jailed for life.

The yobs were drunk and high on cannabis when they kicked Mr Newlove, 47, to death in front of his daughters after he confronted them for vandalising cars outside his home in Warrington, Cheshire, in 2007.

Figures released under Freedom of Information laws show Sorton has been given £2,624 for a barrister and £214 for a solicitor to appeal his sentence.

Cunliffe was handed £727 for a solicitor to help in a review of the minimum term of his sentence.

He also won £9,100 for barrister and solicitor fees linked to a judicial review bid.

Cunliffe was also given £2,801 in taxpayers’ money for unspecified ‘legal help’.

Cunliffe’s minimum 12-year sentence expires in August. Sorton has to serve at least 13 years.

Both are in open prison pending release.

Garry’s widow, Baroness Helen Newlove, declined to comment on her husband’s killers Legal Aid handouts.

Handout

Stephen Paul Sorton was 17 when sentenced to life for murder in 2008[/caption]

Handout

Jordan Cunliffe was 16 when he was sentenced in 2008[/caption]

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