FAMILIES of murder victims were left disappointed when a Government minister rejected their pleas for more money for self-help groups.

Lord Falconer told families gathered at a conference that he had no money "in his back pocket" to fund groups such as the North of England Victims' Association and the Teesside branch of Support after Murder and Manslaughter.

He said that Victim Support already received millions of pounds in funding.

But June Richardson, whose son Martin was killed by Mary Bell in Scotswood, Newcastle, in 1968, said: "Victim Support cannot help people like us. They don't understand because they haven't been through what we have."

The news came as Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust, told the audience at the North of England Victims' Association conference in South Shields, South Tyneside, that his organisation had only six weeks of funding left.

The serving police officer said he was about to make a personal appeal for donations to his 2,000 colleagues. He also said he would have to apply for a loan to cover two months' rent.

"Our running costs are about £100,000 a year and last year we had 200 families coming to us for help," he said.

"Victim Support gets £28m a year yet groups like us don't get any money from the Government or from the Lottery."

Speaking after the conference Lord Falconer said: "They need to make a formal application because we need to balance a whole range of competing bids."