Supporters of Tommy Sheridan yesterday highlighted the level of unsolved crime in the Lothians and Borders Police area while an average of 14 officers investigated the former MSP.
During the weekend when 12 officers were engaged on interviewing the Solidarity politician and former MSP in Edinburgh and nine more were searching his Glasgow home, it was disclosed that 303 offences were being reported to the force.
The statistics were sought under the Freedom of Information law by Hugh Kerr, a close aide to Mr Sheridan, who also required the force to disclose the extent of its operation to investigate allegations that Mr Sheridan committed perjury during his defamation action in summer 2006.
As The Herald revealed yesterday, police spent about 40,000 hours on the 13-month inquiry at a cost of £25 per hour. The unaccounted part of the bill was roughly estimated to be £1m.
Complaining that there has been a disproportionate waste of public money, Mr Kerr's questions extended to the level of crime reporting in Lothian and Borders area at the same time.
The answer was that there were approximately 96,538 offences reported, of which only around 40% were solved.
The former MSP won a civil action for defamation against the News of the World in summer 2006, along with an award of £200,000.
As a result of the investigation, police have charged him with perjury as well as his wife Gail, his father-in-law, former MSP Rosemary Byrne and three other party activists.
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