The Attorney General’s Chambers has had to pay out £76,806.27 in defence costs in the last three years.

Since 2017, the AG’s office has had to meet the defence costs for 26 failed prosecutions.

In 2017-18, there were three such claims, totalling £6,584.29.

This rose to £14,638.55 the following year for eight cases and rocketed up to £55,583.43 for 15 failed prosecutions in the year 2019 to 2020.