Evil Qatada — Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe — will enjoy a FREE house and THOUSANDS of pounds in benefits.
And the public will have to fork out a fortune on police and security services to guard him round the clock.
Qatada, 44, is wanted by Jordan on suspicion of plotting terror atrocities, but was granted bail by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission earlier this month.
He could be free under curfew in weeks.
The staggering cost of keeping him in the UK was revealed amid a row over how to stop Qatada posing a threat to Brits.
He is demanding to return to his £750,000 home in West London — where his family’s £4,000-a-month rent is paid by the State.Expense
But police and security services insist that the cleric should live in a Government safe house so he can be monitored more easily.
They will argue over the arrangements with his lawyers at a hearing next week.
But a security source told The Sun: "Either way, when he gets out he’ll be living at the expense of the taxpayer. It sticks in the craw."
Qatada’s family currently receive up to £1,000 a month in handouts — while the taxpayer picks up the £700,000-a-year cost of tracking him.
And the State must pay his £250,000 costs as he fights a Home Office bid to overturn a ban on his deportation — sending the overall annual bill to more than £1million.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis last night led protests against the scandal.
He said: "Not only are the public having their safety put at potentially serious risk, they are having to pay for the privilege."
Dad-of-five Qatada is understood to have racked up nearly £75,000 in benefits since he was first arrested in 2002.
He was briefly freed for a few months in 2005 — and was in possession of £170,000 in CASH when he was re-arrested.
Once Qatada is released from high-security Belmarsh Prison, South East London, he will be monitored by a specialist team — costing around £14,000 a week.
His curfew will see him allowed out for just two hours a day, making it impossible to work and ensuring handouts.
A security source said: "It will cost a fortune to watch Qatada 24 hours-a-day — but he is so dangerous that there is no alternative once he is released.
"It is criminal that the taxpayer has to foot the bill."
Last month the Appeal Court blocked his extradition to Jordan, over fears he may be tortured. The Home Office has lodged an appeal against the deportation ban. If it fails Qatada will be placed under a less strict control order.
The cleric arrived in Britain 14 years ago on a forged United Arab Emirates passport and was granted refugee status after claiming asylum.
He denies being Bin Laden’s "European Ambassador" — but British security forces believe he is at the centre of al-Qaeda terrorist activity in the UK.
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