Taxpayers will foot a £25,000 bill for police attempts to capture detainees who escaped from Campsfield House.

The five-figure sum covers just three days spent trying to locate seven inmates who fled the Kidlington detention centre in June.

Three of the inmates were still on the run today, but the other four were caught within hours of the break-out on Thursday, June 19.

Last night a Thames Valley Police spokesman said the force would discuss how to avoid paying the cost of policing future disturbances at the privately-owned centre.

Spokesman Andrew Heath said: "We will be meeting with the Home Office, the UK Border Agency and the managers at Campsfield House to discuss a way forward.

"We have paid this time and written the money off. But we will be discussing who’ll be paying in the future, which will be complicated. We’ll see what happens."

Thames Valley Police Authority papers revealed the taxpayer will pay the £25,000 spent trying to locate the runaways.

The bill includes £9,000 of officer overtime and the cost of extra officers drafted in for the search.

Campsfield House, which detains illegal immigrants ahead of their deportation, has suffered a series of disturbances in the last 18 months.

The mass escape in June sparked a major police search and investigation around the site — the second in a year.

It is understood police want the Home Office and GEO, which runs the centre, to guarantee they will meet the costs of searching for runaways and restoring order at the centre in future incidents.

Talks with the Home Office and GEO were due this month but have been delayed until later in the year.

Bob Hughes, of Campaign to Close Campsfield, said: "It is an awful lot of money but they could save a lot of it by not locking them up in the first place.

"They are not criminals. They are only guilty of working or having false papers. Every time anything happens there are riot police but this was a complete over-reaction because the public are not at risk."

The Home Office would not comment on plans for refunding the cost of the operation until after meetings have taken place.

GEO spokesman Walter MacGowan also refused to comment.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman rejected a Freedom of Information request to reveal the cost of all the disturbances at the centre, saying the force did not keep that information.