§ Mr. Patonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department to state, for the year 1952, 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.
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§ Sir D. Maxwell FyfeThe number of murders known to the police in England and Wales in 1952, after deducing cases ultimately dealt with as manslaughter or infanticide, was 141. The number of these murders in which the suspected murderer committed suicide was 48. The number of these murders in which the supposed murderer was certified insane before trial or was found either insane on arraignment and unfit to plead or guilty but insane was 42. One person arrested for one of those murders was handed over to a foreign country for trial.
The number of persons charged with one or more of these murders and discharged or acquitted was six. The number of persons found guilty of one or more of these murders was 35, and of these persons two were sentenced to be detained during Her Majesty's pleasure and 33 were sentenced to death. Of the 33 persons sentenced to death one was subsequently certified as insane, 15 were reprieved and had their sentences commuted to imprisonment for life, and 17 were executed.