ISIS bride Shamima Begum benefits from nearly £250,000 in legal aid – and £150,000 in past year alone

IS bride Shamima Begum has benefited from nearly £250,000 in legal aid — with £150,000 granted in the past year alone.

And the bill for her lawyers is to rise following a Court of Appeal hearing last month.

Begum had her British citizenship revoked in 2019 after fleeing London for Syria in 2015 aged 15.

Now 24, she has been begging to return to start a new life in the UK.

Her lawyers claim she was groomed online and the UK Government and police failed to protect her from exploitation.

Ms Begum has always attempted to downplay her involvement in ISIS death cult war crimes and attempted to reinvent herself as a victim including in a BBC documentary.

But security expert professor Anthony Glees told The Sun on Sunday: “She chose to leave the UK to join a terrorist group of her own free will.”

David Spencer, of the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: “It’s an outrage Shamima Begum is entitled to such vast sums.

“Actions have consequences and if anyone should pay the price for her poor judgement it is her, not the law-abiding British taxpayer.”

The Ministry of Justice, which oversees the Legal Aid Agency, insisted: “Shamima Begum did not receive a penny of this money.”