Serial complainers cost police £850,000

The Scottish Police Authority has released figures that show 11 persistent complainers have generated more than 200 complaints against the national force.

Those concerned are said to have made a total of 217 allegations since the creation of Police Scotland in 2013. Some were said to have repeated their complaints up to six times with one case generating 111 allegations.

It is estimated that more than £850,000 has been spent on the handling of all complaints in the past five and a half years with each case thought to take around 160 working days to be handled.

The figures have emerged as former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini carries out a review of police complaints.