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.

Green London Assembly member Ms Jones said that the money could have been more usefully spent across London’s boroughs.

“This deployment has been a waste of resources that Londoners have not been compensated for,” she said.

Mr Assange claims that if he is extradited to Sweden to be questioned about the sex attacks he will be then handed over to the US to be interrogated over the activities of Wiki­Leaks.

He filed a complaint to the UN against Sweden and Britain in September 2014 that the reality that he would be immediately arrested if he left the Ecuadorian embassy amounted to arbitrary detention by Britain.

The UN working group on arbitrary detention has been considering the charge and the legal experts’ decision is due to be published today.

It is understood to have ruled in Mr Assange’s favour.

Speaking on the eve of the decision, Ms Jones said: “Why have we wasted so much valuable police time and taxpayer money keeping one man trapped in an embassy, when using the Met’s famous covert surveillance was always an option?”