Greater Manchester Police can't confirm how much Greenwood investigation cost

Shock Radio's George Icke made a Freedom of Information Request to Greater Manchester Police to establish the cost of the investigation into Mason Greenwood after the "withdrawal of a key witness" forced the Crown Prosecution Service to drop charges against the footballer.

We approached Greater Manchester Police, after criminal proceedings over alleged rape were dropped against Mason Greenwood, to find out how much the investigation had cost Greater Manchester Police prior to the withdrawal of a key witness.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows the public to request information from public authorities such as the police, fire service, government departments, and councils.

Greater Manchester Police refused our request to share this information, despite the initial response confirming that the information requested is held by the force, but that it's not available in an "easily retrievable format" and "to provide accurate data for the resources spent for a specific case is complex."

The force said that it would require them to look into the payroll of officers involved in the case and that no officers were working solely on this case, therefore it would be difficult to determine how much time was spent on this case rather than "other duties."

Greater Manchester Police stated that this would take in excess of 18 hours to compile the data and "the cost of locating and retrieving the information" would exceed the £450 threshold they're obliged to operate within.

Mason Greenwood spent 2 days in Manchester's Strangeways prison before being granted bail. This short spell behind bars is estimated to have cost the taxpayer over £260 alone by The Ministry of Justice.