Assange inside his fetid lair: The squalid horror that drove embassy staff to finally kick him out 

The full scale of disgusting personal hygiene, arrogance and paranoia that brought Julian Assange’s seven years holed up in an embassy to an end can be revealed today.

Exclusive photographs seen by the Daily Mail show how the WikiLeaks founder mounted ‘dirty protests’ at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Just weeks ago, he left soiled underpants stuffed down the lavatory in a fit of rage. On other occasions he left excrement smeared on the wall. He defied pleas not to constantly leave an electric stove on, and ignored repeated warnings not to leave half-eaten meals and unwashed dishes in the kitchen.

Staff grew so exasperated they even threw out his pet cat after he failed to clean up its mess. They also feared he had hidden a camera in its collar to spy on them.

He ignored repeated warnings not to leave half-eaten meals and unwashed dishes in the kitchen

Standing in the bathroom defiled by Assange just weeks ago, Ecuador’s UK Ambassador Jaime Marchan said: ‘When Assange wanted to be unpleasant he put excrement on the walls and underwear with excrement in the lavatory. We had to remind him to flush the toilet and clean the dishes. He had to be reminded of normal standards of behaviour all the time. He would always leave the cooker on.’

Mr Marchan, 72, a distinguished lifelong diplomat, is relieved to be rid of Assange. ‘The asylum system is to protect innocent people. [He] abused it. He is a predator.’

This newspaper is the first to have access to the embassy since Assange was dragged out of hiding after the Ecuadorian government ended his asylum status.

Just weeks ago, he left soiled underpants stuffed down the lavatory in a fit of rage. Pictured is his bathroom which he also smeared his excrement across

He now faces being jailed in the US for computer hacking, and the threat of legal action in Sweden for alleged rape.

Mr Marchan took the Mail on a tour of the embassy – and explained how he finally lost patience with his squalid and spiteful ‘tenant’.

The soiled underpants incident occurred in January – and when told to clean it up, Assange is said to have replied: ‘I won’t clean it. I won’t!’ The embassy’s cleaner had to do it instead.

Mr Marchan wrote a formal letter of complaint to Assange’s lawyers informing them he had broken a ‘hygiene protocol’ drawn up because of his dirty habits.

But they wrote back saying he had had a ‘stomach sickness’ and their photo was proof the embassy had ‘infringed his privacy’.

The tour also showed Assange was not as cooped up as it seemed. While he couldn’t go out, he had the run of virtually the entire embassy – which is the size of a luxurious Belgravia apartment. Unable to exercise outside, Assange caused mayhem by skateboarding down the central polished wooden corridor and playing football like a rowdy teenager.

Staff grew so exasperated they even threw out his pet cat after he failed to clean up its mess. They also feared he had hidden a camera in its collar to spy on them

Ecuador’s UK Ambassador Jaime Marchan, 72, said: ‘When Assange wanted to be unpleasant he put excrement on the walls and underwear with excrement in the lavatory. We had to remind him to flush the toilet and clean the dishes’

He demanded – and got – a bigger bedroom, though Mr Marchan says it was partly for vanity. The one he bagged had a balcony where Assange made speeches to Left-wing fans on the pavement.

His bedroom is now sealed off pending an investigation by the authorities. Mr Marchan added: ‘He played loud music because he said it stopped anyone listening in. It was impossible for us to work.’ The mistrust was mutual. Assange’s cat was removed because he couldn’t be bothered to look after it, though the ambassador added: ‘It could go in every room – we were suspicious it may carry a device … to spy on us.’

Mr Marchan is full of praise for how Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan helped the embassy remove its graceless tenant. ‘Without Sir Alan, we could not possibly have done this.’

He says that with hindsight, it was a mistake to give Assange refuge in the first place. He said: ‘We have proved Ecuador respects human rights but he didn’t comply with his obligations. He is very selfish. I told him, “One day you’ll realise how much Ecuador did to protect you”.’ 

Assange’s seven-year stay in embassy in London cost Ecuador £5million – and British taxpayers shelled out £13million on security 

 BY GERARD COUZENS

Assange’s seven-year stay in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London cost the South American country £5 million.

Foreign Minister Jose Valencia released the figures as he detailed the money that had been spent on keeping the 47-year-old Wikileaks founder after he entered the embassy on August 16, 2012.

Most – nearly £4.5 million – was spent on security.

But Mr Valencia also told the country’s legislators £305,000 went on medical expenditure, food and washing his clothes.

Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday

He revealed another £230,000 was spent on legal advice the Australian received in 2012.

The Ecuadorian government said Assange, arrested on Thursday after his diplomatic asylum was withdrawn by the country’s president Lenin Moreno, had paid for his own upkeep since the start of last December.

Government sources have said the same money could have funded 155 council houses, 88 community schools and a health centre.

The cost to British taxpayers of the policing operation outside the embassy has been put at more than £13 million, although they have also footed the bill for covert surveillance and several court appearances.

The Ecuadorian government went public with the cost of keeping Assange after the country’s Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo claimed his bad behaviour at the embassy had included smearing faeces on the walls.

She said after his arrest: ‘During his stay at the Ecuadorian Embassy, during the government of the former president Rafael Correa, they tolerated things like Mr Assange putting feces on the walls of the embassy and other types of behaviour of this kind that is far removed from the minimum respect a guest should have in a country which has generously welcomed him.’

Assange is facing up to 12 months in a British jail after being found guilty yesterday afternoon/on Thursday afternoon at Westminster Magistrates Court of skipping bail in 2012 to seek refuge at the embassy over rape allegations which led to Sweden requesting his arrest.

He now faces a battle against extradition to America where he is wanted for espionage and publication of sensitive government documents.

His lawyers fear he will face the death penalty, a claim rubbished by President Moreno who said Britain had confirmed it would not extradite Assange to a country where he could face the death sentence.

Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Jose Valencia said after the arrest: ‘Great Britain has offered guarantees that if a third country presented an extradition request, Mr Assange would not be handed over to any nation that could impose the death penalty or where he could be subjected to torture.’

Julian Assange’s mother Christine has pledged to ‘fight like hell’ for him.