§ Mr. Patonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state, for the year 1951, for England and Wales, the number of murders known to the police; the number of murders in which the suspected murderer committed suicide; the number of murders in which the supposed murderer was found unfit to plead, or, on pleading, was found guilty but insane; the number of persons charged with murder and acquitted; the number of persons found guilty of murder and sentenced to death; the number of those sentenced to death who were subsequently found to be insane; the number of those sentenced to death who were reprieved; and the number of those sentenced to death who were actually executed.
§ Sir D. Maxwell FyfeThe number of murders known to the police in England and Wales in 1951, after deducting cases ultimately dealt with as manslaughter, was 124. The number of these murders in which the suspected murderer committed suicide was 45. The number of these murders in which the supposed murderer was found either insane on arraignment and unfit to plead or guilty but insane was 33. The number of persons charged with one or more of these murders and acquitted was seven. The number of persons found guilty of one or more of these murders and sentenced to death was 28. Of the 28 persons sentenced to death one had his conviction quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal, two were subsequently208W certified as insane, five were reprieved and had their sentences commuted to imprisonment for life, and 20 were executed.