Ecuadorian embassy’s plans to help Julian Assange flee in …

By Josh White For The Daily Mail

Published: 11:25 EST, 1 September 2015 | Updated: 19:58 EST, 1 September 2015

Fugitive Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was poised to slip past British police in fancy dress as part of desperate plans by the Ecuador government to smuggle him out of their London embassy, it emerged yesterday.

Other schemes to remove him from the embassy where he has claimed asylum for three years to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault and rape charges included a dash across the rooftops of Knightsbridge to a nearby helipad or disappearing among tourists visiting Harrods, according to leaked documents.

None of the escape plans were attempted, with diplomats concerned at the scale of police surveillance, and they also concluded it would be impossible to smuggle out Assange in a diplomatic package because of advanced technology that can detect body heat.

The 44-year-old was said to have been acting strangely in the Kensignton flat, which he has not left since arriving in 2012, and diplomats from the South American country proposed a way of him fleeing in fancy dress

Leaked documents show a number of bizarre plans to help him escape, without being arrested by the constantly waiting Metropolitan Police officers. Pictured is the Ecuadorian embassy in London

But they state: Assange could leave in fancy dress or try to escape across rooftops towards a nearby helipad, or get lost among the people in Harrods.

UK officials have repeatedly attacked the cost of surveillance on Assange, with the bill standing at 11.9m at the end of June.

The details of Assanges time in the embassy are contained within leaked documents dating back to 2012.

They note his evident anger and a need to control [his] access to alcohol, but also reveal that his antics could cause discomfort to personnel, mainly women.

Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patino and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during a press conference inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London last year

The 44-year-old Australian is said to be plagued with night terrors and has a tendency to shout and talk incoherently into the small hours.

Swedish prosecutors dropped sexual assault claims against him last month as a time limit expired, but he is still wanted on a rape accusation made after his visit to the country five years ago.

Assange denies the allegations.

Swedish officials yesterday said they are close to an agreement with Ecuador which could see Assange questioned in London before the end of the year.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: Our objective is to arrest Julian Assange for breach of bail.

A balloon marking the first anniversary of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's entry to Ecuador's embassy is tethered above the building

The WikiLeaks founder was alleged to have raped a woman known as SW, then aged 26, and committed other sexual offences against AA, a 31-year-old woman in Sweden

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