To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will state the total cost to his Department of the defence of Lee Clegg, breaking down the cost under different heads. [78736]

[holding answer 31 March 1999]: The payments made by my Department to date for the defence of Lee Clegg total £1,044,401.14. This figure does not include the cost of his first trial in 1993, the costs of which were met by the Northern Ireland Office. Nor does it cover his retrial, which began in November 1998 and lasted until February 1999 for which we have so far received bills for the costs up to the end of January 1999, but these have yet to be approved for payment.