§ EARL WINTERTON (Sussex, Horsham)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can state the number of murders that have taken place in the Metropolitan Police district from 1st January, 1903, until the present date; and in how many cases the perpetrator has not been discovered.
840 (Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) The following figures, supplied by the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, give the information desired. Cases of infanticide (murder of children under the age of one year) are not included:—
| (1) | (2) | (3) |
| Year. | Total number of murders committed | Number included in Column 2 in which the perpetrator has not been discovered |
| 1903 | 17 | — |
| 1904 | 20 | 2 |
| 1905 | 19 | 1 |
| 1906 | 15 | 2 |
| 1907 | 11 | 3 |
| 1908, to 30th September | 10 | 2 |
| Total | 92 | 10 |
§ Four of the ten murders included in the third column as cases in which the perpetrators have not been discovered were cases in which women had died as the results of illegal operations, one in each of the years 1904, 1905, 1906, and 1908. I have included in this column not only the cases in which the criminal has not been traced but also those in which the police possess information which convinces them that only one person could have committed the crime, but have found it impossible to obtain the legal evidence necessary to justify his or her arrest or, in case of arrest, to secure his or her conviction.