MILLIONS of pounds spent by police monitoring WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for three years could have been better used for front-line police duties, Baroness Jones said yesterday.

Mr Assange has been stuck in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012 after fleeing there to avoid extradition to Sweden over an allegation of sexual assault, which he has always denied.

The Metropolitan Police said, since then, it had spent over £12.6 million on guarding the embassy.