A SCOTTISH-raised Leveson Inquiry barrister who had an alleged relationship with a lawyer representing celebrities at the hearings was paid almost £220,000 of taxpayers' cash for 16 months of work.
Carine Patry Hoskins received £218,606 between July 2011 and November 2012 as part of the counsel team appointed by Lord Justice Leveson to question witnesses and provide legal advice to the inquiry panel.
Now a Conservative MP, Rob Wilson, who unearthed the figures through a parliamentary question, is planning to write to Lord Justice Leveson to request a full breakdown of Ms Patry Hoskins's work.
He said: "This is one hell of a payday for someone described by Lord Justice Leveson as doing merely mechanical and fact-checking work.
"It raises questions as to whether this is value for taxpayers' money as to why she was paid more than 10 times the average wage.
"Surely someone more junior could have undertaken these junior tasks at a fraction of the cost? This is either an extravagant use of taxpayers' money or we do not yet know the full extent of her work."
He said a full breakdown was required in "light of the huge sums of taxpayers' money involved".
French-born Ms Patry Hoskins, who grew up in Glasgow and studied law at Glasgow University, is said to have gone on holiday to Greece with barrister David Sherborne, who represented Hugh Grant and other phone-hacking victims at the probe.
The holiday is thought to have taken place days after the public hearings concluded and months before the inquiry ended.
However, they were said to maintain their relationship did not begin until after the Leveson report was published.
The judge dismissed the idea his report could have been tainted by the alleged relationship.
Last month, Lord Leveson said in a letter to Mr Wilson that Ms Patry Hoskins only carried out proof reading after the pair apparently become involved and was not involved in discussions about any of the recommendations.
However, it is understood she would have been earlier involved in preparation and submission work.
The Reading East MP had urged reports of an affair to be investigated.
Lord Justice Leveson also previously said in his letter: "There was simply no room for a breach of confidence or other conspiracy as a result of personal relations between her and Mr Sherborne." Counsel's fees for the inquiry were listed as £1.44 million, with a further £315,600 spent on barristers providing assistance to counsel.
Public hearings started on November 14, 2011, and the inquiry sat for 97 days up to and including July 24, 2012.
Ms Patry Hoskins works for Landmark Chambers in the fields of immigration, mental health, education and planning.
She worked alongside fellow barristers Robert Jay, QC, and David Barr as counsel to the inquiry.
It was a role that cast her into the limelight and she found herself trending on Twitter in November 2011 as "#womanontheleft" after televised coverage showed her listening intently to testimony from Hugh Grant, whose lawyer was Mr Sherborne.
She and her husband, Mark Hoskins, QC, are separated and are in the process of finalising their divorce. The couple have two children.
Ms Patry Hoskins was unavailable for comment.
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