The figures are based on a unique survey of 36 bereaved families who have had to find money for travel costs to trials, legal costs associated with ongoing court proceedings, for counselling for themselves and children to cope with trauma or even to clear up a murder scene or for having to move house. This is all compounded by the fact that people are often traumatised and suffer loss of earnings because they are unable to work.
Of the families that were surveyed, legal costs ranged between £280 and £150,000. The money was often needed for estate settlements and applications for residency orders in cases where a child’s parent may have been killed. The majority of those families surveyed had to meet these costs themselves.
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