Carr lawyers demand taxpayers' cash

Maxine Carr expects the taxpayer to foot mammoth legal costs as she demands total anonymity for the rest of her life, it can be revealed today.

The former fiancé¥ of Soham murderer Ian Huntley has already drained up to £1.5million from the public purse since her release from prison last May.

Now her lawyers are to argue at the High Court tomorrow that her whereabouts and new name should never be made public - and have applied to the Legal Services Commission for further funding.

Carr is already a huge burden on the taxpayer. Her bill includes being kept under full police protection, further court appearances - both civil and criminal - probation service supervision and sick pay and benefits following a recent breakdown.

Carr was jailed for 42 months in December 2003 for perverting the course of justice by giving her boyfriend Huntley a false alibi after Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, the girls he murdered, had disappeared.

Last year the High Court imposed a temporary injunction banning publication of any detail which might reveal her new identity including any description of where she lives and the nature of her work. But she is claiming that repeated death threats show she will always be at risk if her new identity and home life are ever revealed. She is seeking a "Mary Bell-type" court order - named after the lifetime anonymity granted to the child killer - to protect her human rights.

She will be represented by Edward Fitzgerald QC and total court costs are expected to reach an estimated £100,000. Evidence from Home Office officials, the probation service and the police will be put before Mr Justice Eady. Carr was released from Foston Hall prison, Derbyshire, after serving half her Soham sentence and taken under 24-hour police protection.

She was last seen in public under her real name in the week of her release last May when she admitted 20 benefit fraud and deception charges and was sentenced to a threeyear community rehabilitation order.

She received legal aid for the preparation casework, a preliminary hearing and her court appearance.

Last month Carr was sacked from her job after admitting she had been stealing food from nuns at a convent. She has relapsed into bulimia, is claiming sick pay and is likely to apply for long-term incapacity benefit. Last week she was reported to have suffered a nervous breakdown.