Met Police 'reviewing' the policing of Julian Assange's Ecuadorian Embassy hideaway
THE Metropolitan Police have admitted they are reviewing the policing of the Ecuadorian Embassy where Julian Assange is taking refuge, saying that round-the-clock guarding is "sucking" their resources.
The total cost of policing the Embassy has now soared past a staggering £10million, it emerged last week.
Today, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe confessed that guarding the building is zapping police resources and that the force are now "reviewing" their "options".
He told LBC Radio: "We won't talk about tactics but we are reviewing what options we have. It is sucking our resources."
Metropolitan Police officers have been standing outside the building in Knightsbridge, west London, since the WikiLeaks founder took shelter there in June 2012.
Mr Assange, 43, is seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over claims he assaulted two women in Stockholm - which he denies.
Police are forced to patrol the outside of the Embassy in case he steps foot on British soil, in which it is likely he would be arrested.
If arrested, Mr Assange would then be extradited to Sweden to answer the sex assault allegations.
However, Mr Assange believes he would subsequently be sent to America after he released thousands of highly-confidential US State Department documents on his Wikileaks site.
In August 2013, Ecuador granted Mr Assange political asylum. In his apartment in the Embassy, Mr Assange is technically on Ecuadorian sovereign soil.
We won't talk about tactics but we are reviewing what options we have. It is sucking our resources
Last year it was revealed that Scotland Yard had spent £9million on policing the building to the end of October, according to figures released in a Freedom of Information request from LBC Radio.
The sum would have been enough to keep 343 police officers patrolling the street for a year.
Mr Assange has been holed up in the Embassy for a further 101 days since these figures were released - meaning that the actual total amount spent by the force today has passed the £10million mark, or roughly £10,500 a day.
The revaluation of this staggering figure sparked fury across the country, with Stephen Greenhalgh, deputy mayor for policing and crime in London, describing the sum as an "eye-watering amount of money".
He said last week: "We do need a diplomatic situation, but ultimately it is the taxpayer that foots the bill.
"Frankly I think the Home Office should help us out. This is something that does need a solution, but, pending that, this is the kind of money that you can't possibly predict the Met will have to bear."
The astonishing amount of cash was also branded as "utterly unfair" by a British pressure group.
Andy Silvester, Campaign Director at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers are bound to question if this really is good use of their money, when the cops could be out on the beat preventing crimes in local communities.
"When every department is having to find savings, it is utterly unfair for the Met to have to spend precious resources guarding Mr Assange in a plush neighbourhood."
Nearly six months ago, Mr Assange he said he would be leaving the Embassy soon as his health was deteriorating, but he has yet to leave and has now been there for 964 days.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We remain as committed as ever to reaching a diplomatic solution to this situation. We are clear that our laws must be followed and Mr Assange should be extradited to Sweden.
"As ever, we look to Ecuador to help bring this difficult and costly situation to an end."
