BOMBINGS: 'DOUBLE PAY-OUT'.

Byline: Mail Municipal Correspondent

SOME of the victims of the Birmingham bomb disasters have now received a double hand-out.

And the trustees of the Lord Mayor's Appeal Fund have been more generous than the Government's Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.

One man injured in the bombings received pounds 300 from the Gobernment and pounds 500 from the Lord Mayor's fund.

Neither the Lord Mayor's fund trustees nor the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board take into account any money received from the other source when they decide what allocations should be made.

Mr Frank Carter chief executive of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board said today: "We have received 120 applications for compensation, including nine in respect of people who have been killed,"

"The Board has just started paying the compensation Six fairly simple cases have been resolved and paid a total of pounds 1,656

"In 28 cases interim awards totaling pounds 7,990 have been paid.

"The board's payments are made in accordance with common law requirements. It is not a question of generodity or emotion,"

The Lord Mayor, Coun. E.James, said today that he thought some of the criticism of allocation under his fund were unreasonable.

He accepted that some victims conscious of the pounds 375,000 raided by his appeal might be disappointed when they saw their individual awards.

About two-third of the money has now been disbursed. The remainder is being retained until the ultimate effects of injuries received are known in casse further allocations are necessary.

Councillor Charles Collett, a trustee of the fund, said he was appalled at people attempting to sponge off the fund.

He added: "They are scoundrels and scroungers who should be ignored"

He knew of two men who claimed to have been in one of the public houses on the night of bombings.

They had no injuries and could not prove they had been anywhere near the city centre at the time.