How WikiLeaks fugitive Julian Assange could cost Britain £30m

Julian Assange has been at the Ecuadorian embassy for three years They granted the 43-year-old WikiLeaks founder refugee status British police cannot enter embassy near Harrods without permission Eight officers on duty assigned to at one time to Assange surveillance Surveillanceoperation so far cost tax payer a shocking 10million Met Commissioner complained it is 'sucking' police resources Swedish investigation into Assange could lapse in five years' time By then the Metropolitan Police bill could have topped 30 million

By Richard Pendlebury for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:11 EST, 19 February 2015 | Updated: 18:48 EST, 19 February 2015

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Wanted man: Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy - and the British police waiting outside to arrest him

Each morning, the glitzy London district of Knightsbridge plays host to a variety of uniformed rituals such as the troop of Household Cavalry jangling out of the Hyde Park Barracks on their way to Horse Guards Parade.

But rather less photogenic is the line-up of Metropolitan Police officers stationed 24 hours a day outside the Ecuador embassy round the corner from Harrods.

Their cordon is unlike any other police patrol in the capital. Rather than being deployed to repel intruders, the officers are there to make sure that one particular person is arrested if ever he leaves the building.

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How WikiLeaks fugitive Julian Assange could cost Britain £30m