The trial of South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay over election expenses allegations cost the taxpayer £186,000, figures from the Crown Prosecution Service have revealed.

Mr Mackinlay was last month cleared of two charges related to falsifying election expenses returns following the general election campaign in the constituency in 2015.

He was acquitted by a jury after a 10-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.

In a statement outside court, the MP said he had been the subject of a political show trial and endured “nearly three years of pure hell.”

“I await a statement from the Electoral Commission, the CPS and Kent police as to how they justify millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money in pursuing me in a political show trial,” he said.

He was charged formally in the week before the 2017 general election.

Figures released to the KM Media Group under the Freedom of Information Act show the overall cost of the case to the CPS was £186,033.

The bulk of this was associated with the costs of counsel at the crown court trial, which were £103,342. A further £39,000 was for Crown Prosecution staff and £1,106 on expert witness fees.

Before reaching the crown court, the case was the subject of an appeal to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. The costs of this to the CPS came in at £42,262.

The trial followed an investigation into claims that during the electoral battle in South Thanet in 2015, where Mr Mackinlay was fending off a challenge from then Ukip leader Nigel Farage, the Conservative party expenses had not been properly reported.

A probe by Channel 4 News revealed that the party had spent tens of thousands of pounds on hotel accommodation for election activists and campaigners but those costs were not properly recorded as local campaign expenditure, as they should have been.

Craig Mackinlay speaking after the verdict in January

The prosecution said that had they been, the party would have breached permitted spending limits.

In official returns, the party declared under the strict £52,000 limit but prosecutors alleged up to £66,600 more was spent on staffing, accommodation, advertising, posters and a bus for Mackinlay’s campaign which was not declared.

Mr Mackinlay was found not guilty as was his election agent Nathan Gray. Marion Little, a senior party election strategist drafted in to lead the campaign against Ukip, was found guilty on two counts of intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence. She was given a suspended sentence.