CASHED-up child killer Derek Percy is crying poor as he makes a fresh demand on a suspected victim's mother to pay another $48,000 in legal costs.

The latest insult comes as Premier Ted Baillieu and Attorney-General Robert Clark yesterday ignored calls to help pensioner Jean Priest, who must already pay $32,247 to Percy.

The Supreme Court has issued orders, by consent, that Ms Priest pay Percy's legal bill after she lost a bid to force the killer to give evidence about her daughter Linda Stilwell, 7, whose body has never been found. She was abducted from St Kilda in August 1968.

Hundreds of readers offered support for Ms Priest and pledged financial help after her plight was revealed in the Herald Sun.

"I just want to thank everyone who has wanted to help. I just feel overwhelmed at the moment by all that love and support," she said.

Ms Priest, 72, faces bankruptcy after losing two legal bids to make Percy answer questions.

Percy has escaped being quizzed under oath despite a new law that allowed the Coroner to force Percy to give evidence without that evidence being used in a prosecution against him.

Percy -- who was a navy seaman for less than 20 months before his psychiatric discharge in 1968 -- continues to collect ComSuper payments of up to $20,000 a year, based on half a recruit's annual salary. Over the past 42 years this has added up to $250,000 to $300,000.

Percy remains in jail indefinitely for the 1969 killing of Yvonne Tuohy, 12, for which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

In an affidavit filed in the Court of Appeal, Percy argues through his lawyer that Ms Priest should pay another $48,700 as security in her final appeal to make him answer questions under oath.

"(Percy) has funded, and is continuing to fund, his quite significant legal costs personally and from his own very limited resources," Percy's lawyer, Frank Randle, said in court documents. "He was not in receipt of legal aid."

Deputy State Coroner Iain West in 2009 found Percy was in St Kilda in the vicinity of Linda on the day she disappeared. But Mr West decided not to compel Percy to give evidence because of Percy's apparent psychosis at the time, and his potential unreliability.

In a police interview in 1969, when asked if he killed Linda Stilwell, Percy said "possibly, I don't remember a thing about it".

Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews has called on the Government to say whether it will help Ms Priest.

- with Amelia Harris