Jailed hate preacher Abu Hamza's £1.7million London family home is reportedly being given a £70,000 facelift at the expense of taxpayers.
The five-bedroom Edwardian council property in Shepherd's Bush, west London, where the extremist's eight children were raised, is due to receive new windows and doors, solar panels and loft insulation.
The work is being carried out while the hook-handed terrorist, 68, remains behind bars in a maximum-security US prison serving a life sentence.
The property is occupied by Hamza's wife Najat Chaffe, 67, who is the only person registered as living at the address.
A longstanding tenancy arrangement means she has the right to remain in the property, while Hammersmith and Fulham Council is responsible for maintaining it.
The home is understood to be in a conservation area and has become increasingly valuable over the years, with its estimated worth now put at around £1.7million.
The council has said it is legally obliged to carry out improvement works across its housing stock, with the Shepherd's Bush property among around 1,000 homes due to benefit from the programme.
Planning permission has been submitted for the works, although it has not yet been approved, and the improvements are expected to be completed before the end of the decade.
Jailed hate preacher Abu Hamza's £1.7million London family home is reportedly being given a £70,000 facelift at the expense of taxpayers
The work is being carried out while the hook-handed terrorist, 68, remains behind bars in a maximum-security US prison serving a life sentence. Pictured: Outside the Finsbury Park Mosque in 2002
But the spending has prompted fury from the council's Conservative opposition leader Jose Afonso.
He told The Sun: 'This is a disgusting waste of public money. Residents will be appalled to know that not only are we housing the families of terrorists, we are doing so in five-bedroom houses and paying for extensive upgrades.'
Ms Chaffe moved into the house in 1995 after claiming that she and Hamza had separated.
Although the Egyptian-born cleric never officially lived at the address, neighbours and local reports said he was regularly seen there before his arrest in 2004. His wife went on to raise their eight children at the property.
The family home has previously been at the centre of controversy over its size and the terms of Ms Chaffe's tenancy.
In 2012, the council asked her to move to a smaller property because the five-bedroom house was considered too large for the number of people living there.
At the time, officials said more than 10,000 people were on the borough's housing waiting list and argued that the property should be allocated to a family in greater need.
However, Ms Chaffe was entitled to refuse because of the terms of her existing tenancy.
The council's current position is that it is required to maintain its properties and carry out improvements.
The controversy surrounding the house has also previously extended to Hamza's finances.
His attempts to evade his prison sentence at Colorado's supermax, ADX Florence (above), took a significant blow after he was caught brainwashing jihad into his young granddaughter
Hamza previously wrote a 76-page complaint file about his prison's conditions, where he is in solitary confinement (above)
In 2012 Abu Hamza was extradited from the UK to the US after a long legal battle
In 2007, a court found that the preacher had secretly owned a £220,000 property in Greenford, west London, while receiving legal aid.
He was subsequently made liable for around £1million in legal costs after the court examined his finances. Hamza claimed he had no assets and did not pay the bill.
The property revelations came after Hamza had already become one of Britain's most notorious extremist preachers.
The former Finsbury Park Mosque preacher was jailed in Britain in 2006 for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred.
He was later extradited to the US after a lengthy legal battle.
In 2014, he was convicted in New York over his role in a plot to kidnap 16 tourists in Yemen in 1998, in which four hostages died, as well as a conspiracy to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2015. The US Department of Justice said the conviction covered his role in the Yemen hostage-taking, the planned Oregon training camp and support for violent jihad.
Hamza is now held at ADX Florence, the supermax prison in Colorado.
He has previously sought compassionate release, with his lawyers raising concerns about his conditions and medical treatment.
His legal team claimed he had been held in a room described as 'a modified large storeroom' and alleged it lacked sufficient natural light and a 'proper toilet for his disabilities'.
They also said he had suffered from serious health problems in prison, including infections and dental problems.
His son Imran Mostafa Kamel previously told the court that he was in 'desperate need' of his father's 'presence, love, and unwavering support'.
He added: 'To witness his reunion with our precious grandchildren and to enjoy quality time together as a family would be a dream come true.'
His wife also said: 'Our family has been deeply distressed by his absence, as he has left an irreplaceable void that no one can fill.'
She added that she 'yearned' to have him return home to spend time with his family.