Having been found not guilty by the jury at his trial
at the Old Bailey on 22 May 2009 (see case 2),
the trial Judge, the Recorder of London, Peter Beaumont QC, has ordered him
to pay legal costs of £90,000 as he "brought the inevitable prosecution upon
himself" by "leading on" undercover police officers from Surrey Police.
However this explanation for imposing costs ignores
the fact it was Surrey Police who first approached Erkin Guney, and it was
Surrey Police who faked an "accident" or "incident" staged to give the
impression Diane Holliday had been murdered. All this was covered during the
Old Bailey trial and the jury remained unconvinced by the prosecution case
thereby finding Erkin Guney innocent of the charges laid against him.
Acquitted defendants are always allowed costs, save for "exceptional"
circumstances.
An appeal against these costs reached the High Court
in March 2011 and you can read a report of this hearing on the
BBC South
website.
Judgment was reserved until the end of March when the
appeal judges - Lord Justice Pill and Justice Mackay - upheld the original
decision of Judge Beaumont. You can read reports of this on the
BBC South
Website and in the
Surrey Advertiser.
Following this appeal, total costs have risen by
£27,000 to nearly £120,000.
