How you pay the heating and phone bills for national security suspects

Terror suspects placed under control orders have been given perks worth almost £300,000 in under three years - including free phone calls, gas and electricity.

Control orders are given to suspects who are thought to be a grave danger to national security, but cannot be prosecuted by the courts.

The cash is paid to those who claim the terms of their order, which can include curfews of 12 hours or more, prevent them from getting a job.

Out of the 31 terror suspects placed under the orders since 2005, 13 have been entitled to special payments. They have received an average of £22,460 each.

They qualify for free phone rental and calls, and have their gas, electric and council tax bills paid.

They are also entitled to housing support and, if they are would-be refugees, asylum payments.

In total, the 13 have received £292,900, including £196,700 last year. The bill emerged in Freedom of Information requests, submitted by the Mail.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "This is further evidence of the costs of the Government's control order regime.

"While doing much to undermine our fundamental freedoms they are ineffective at protecting our safety - and hugely expensive to administer.

"The Government should be doing all they can to prosecute and if possible imprison or deport terror suspects rather than relying on this poor substitute."

Matthew Elliott, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Control orders only exist because the Government is so tied up in human rights legislation that it can't deport terror suspects or lock them up.

"The idea that taxpayers have to give terror suspects even a penny is deplorable. Honest, law-abiding families are struggling to pay high taxes, increased charges and rising utility bills, so they shouldn't be expected to support people who we have serious reason to believe are a threat to our security."

The cost of the orders emerged as Lord Carlile, who reviews anti-terror legislation for the Government, called for some control order suspects to be served with Asbos instead.

He said "light touch orders", with only limited restrictions on movement, were ineffective.

In his annual report on the control order regime, the peer added: "Other measures may be more appropriate - perhaps Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, or civil proceedings for an injunction against specified activities."

His report confirmed that seven control order suspects have absconded. Six are still missing. Some are thought to be abroad.

Some suspected terrorists are believed to have spent nearly three years on a control order, which can involve a form of house arrest and other conditions such as a ban on mobile phone and internet access.

Lord Carlile said: "It is now my view that it is only in rare cases that control orders can be justified for more than two years.

"I advise that there should be a recognised and possibly statutory presumption against a control order being extended beyond two years, save in genuinely exceptional circumstances.

"There has to be an end of the order at some point, in every case."

Lord Carlile also said mosque leaders who harbour extremists could have no complaint if their premises are raided by the police.

The Home Office said ministers would consider the recommendations. Control orders are given if the evidence against suspects, for example, has been obtained using intercept techniques not admissible in court.

The orders are also served on international extremists who can't be deported on human rights grounds.