THE Justice Minister is being urged to guarantee a Bolton woman sufficient legal aid cash to take her eight-year case for compensation over the death of her husband to court. Her MP, Brian Iddon, is pressing for the case against a health trust to be settled by a judge. He has sent papers to Geoff Hoon, the Lord Chancellor's spokesman in the Commons, in a bid to ensure his constituent is not forced to settle for a reduced sum because the money runs out.

He is also urging Mr Hoon to take action to ensure the defending health bodies do not "spin out" the process in a bid to force a lower settlement out of court, because of the capping of legal aid.

Bolton South East MP, Dr Iddon, raised the case - in which the trust has admitted medical negligence - with Mr Hoon when he made a statement to MPs about Lord Chancellor Lord Irvine's legal aid shake up this week.

He said: "What I'm seeking is an assurance that this case will go to court without the legal aid running out.

"This is a woman, whose husband died and the health trust has admitted responsibility. But the case has gone on for eight years and she's now being urged to settle for a figure which is one third of the legal aid so far."

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