Phone hacking probe in numbers: Cost to taxpayer 'could reach £50m'

The Metropolitan Police has now spent around £40 million on investigations into phone hacking and inappropriate payments to police and public officials by journalists from the Mirror Group and News Group Newspapers.

Operations Eleveden and Weeting have cost a combined £37.5m between 2011-2015, the Press Gazette reports.

This figure could soar to nearly £50 million if legal fees are taken into account.

A seperate Met Police investigation into computer hacking - Operation Tuleta - has so far cost the force £3.8m.

The numbers have been revealed after the Crown Prosecution Service announced that no further action will be taken as a result of the phone-hacking investigations.

Here are some of the numbers behind the investigation: