THE father of Poppi Worthington is seeking legal aid to fund a top flight legal team at his daughter's inquest - led by the barrister at the centre of some of the UK's highest profile cases in recent years.

Barrow supermarket worker Paul Worthington, 48, has already received £117,000 in public cash to pay for a custody battle over his other children.

But he now hopes to secure extra legal aid to fund the services of award-winning London barrister Leslie Thomas QC as well as his solicitor, Paul Clark, during the three week hearing in October.

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An application for financial assistance has been made by Mr Worthington - said by a High Court judge to have sexually assaulted 13-month-old Poppi shortly before she collapsed and died in December 2012 - to the government's legal aid service.

Queen's Counsel Mr Thomas is a specialist in high profile legal cases such as that of criminal Mark Duggan, whose shooting by armed police officers in 2011 sparked the London riots.

He has also fought cases on behalf of 11 Hillsborough families and the parents of two children who died of carbon monoxide poisoning while on a Thomas Cook holiday in Corfu in 2006.

Speaking at a pre-inquest hearing in Carlisle on Friday, Mr Thomas said: "The impact upon the father here is profound.

"I know you assisted with a helpful letter to the solicitors for use in trying to seek legal funding.

"We still do not have it.

"This is a case we say is absolutely essential that Mr Worthington is represented at under his Article 8 rights.

"We would certainly be seeking the assistance of the court in relation to that issue which would strengthen our application."

Mr Worthington, who denies any wrongdoing in relation to his daughter, has been granted interested person status ahead of the inquest, along with Poppi's mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, Poppi's siblings, Cumbria Constabulary and Cumbria County Council.

However INQUEST - a national charity that had applied to represent the interests of tragic baby Poppi at the inquiry into her sudden death - has been refused permission to do so by Cumbria's senior coroner David Roberts.

Mr Roberts said he did not believe INQUEST, whose patron is the writer and human rights champion Benjamin Zephaniah, had 'sufficient interest' to represent the little girl.

The inquest is set to be the second to be held into the death of Poppi Worthington after the first, which lasted just seven minutes and heard no evidence, was deemed irregular.

Last month, crown prosecutors confirmed Mr Worthington will face no criminal charges over his daughter's death following a botched investigation by police who failed to retrieve vital evidence.

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