Organisers of a crime-fighting initiative paid BBC Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross £5,000 of public money to speak at the launch.

The fee, labelled "unbelievable" by critics, was for a presentation by Mr Ross at the unveiling last night of the Anti-Victimisation Initiative, which is aimed at cutting homophobic, racist and domestic crime.

Sussex Police confirmed Mr Ross was being paid. His fee came from a £1.2 million Home Office grant, part of which was earmarked for publicity.

A force spokeswoman said: "It is correct Mr Ross has been paid an undisclosed fee for providing his services at the launch.

"We all treat hate crime extremely seriously and the launch of the initiative reflects this.

"It is a major initiative and we required a high-profile crime-fighting public figure of Nick Ross's calibre to give it the impetus it needed."

But Councillor Paul Elgood, Lib Dem leader on the city council, said the sum was "unbelievable". He called on Mr Ross to donate his fee to the cause.

Mr Elgood said: "£5,000 is a lot of money to spend on the rubber-chicken circuit. It could have been put to much better use."

Mr Ross, who last December donated a signed Crimewatch script towards the Lewes Flood Appeal, said he had cut his usual fee of £8,000 to £5,000 to show support for the launch at Hove Town Hall.

He said he worked as often for free as he did for fees and his projects included setting up the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science.

He said: "I am on half a dozen charities and over the last ten years I have almost never charged for this sort of thing, but I have reached the point where it's ridiculous and I am agreeing to do too many things.

"I simply have too much work on. This launch was put to me and they said they were happy to do it as a commercial venture.

"It is not up to me to defend whether the money should have been spent. Maybe the critics are right.

"One issue is whether people like me should be charging for things that are good for the community."

Mr Ross said, his fee aside, the Anti-Victimisation Initiative was a "great" idea.

He held up a copy of yesterday's Evening Argus at the launch as evidence of what he termed "intelligent reporting".

Speaking to an audience of more than 400 people he referred to a front page report on the rise of homophobic crimes in the city.

Mr Ross said victims of racial, homophobic and domestic crimes suffered doubly because, until recently, they were too embarrassed or frightened to report offences, or felt they would not be taken seriously or treated sympathetically.

A Government source said: "We gave money to support the scheme and we believe it is a very worthwhile idea. It is not for Whitehall to decide what their priorities and needs are. But it is up to those in charge of the project to explain expenditures."

The initiative is funded by Brighton and Hove Council, Sussex Police and the Home Office grant and aims to increase reporting of hate crime.

A poster and leaflet campaign has been set up by the organisations involved: Brighton, Hove and Shoreham police divisions, Brighton and Hove City Council, the Domestic Violence Forum, Safety Forum for Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgendered Community, Brighton and Hove's Racial Harassment Forum, Women's Refuge Project and the East Sussex Probation Service.