Essex Police have been told they will receive no help from the Home Office in meeting the estimated £343,000 costs of the Korean Airlines plane crash.

The force - currently locked in talks with the airline's insurers following December's crash at Stansted Airport - was dealt the blow by Home Office minister Charles Clarke.

Responding to a letter from Colchester MP Bob Russell, Mr Clarke stressed: "No special payment will be made to Essex Police for any costs incurred. Essex Police has sought assistance to meet the estimated cost of £343,000 for this exercise.

"Police forces are, however, funded and expected to make provision for unexpected events of this size."

Chief Constable David Stephens maintains Korean Air's insurers should pick up the bill for the clean-up operation which involved looking for non-hazardous radioactive items.

A spokesperson for Essex Police said: "We don't feel the responsibility should fall on Essex taxpayers because we are dealing with exceptional circumstances."

It plans a last-ditch application for cash from the Department of Transport.

Four crew members on the Korean Air 747 jet were killed in the crash, which happened on the outskirts of Hatfield Forest Country Park near the M11 and the villages of Little and Great Hallingbury.

The cargo jet - bound for Seoul via Milan - crashed at 6.42pm on December 23.

Meanwhile, Essex Police have been awarded a grant of £2 million towards the cost of financing January's Afghan hijack incident at Stansted Airport.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.