§ Mr. Oakesasked the Attorney-General in how many criminal cases in higher courts in the Metropolitan Police area the trial was stopped by the judge because a confession by the accused when in custody was withdrawn at the trial on the grounds that it was improperly obtained.
The Solicitor-GeneralIn the Metropolitan Police area in 1981, 1,393 trials ended in an acquittal on the direction of the judge. It is not possible to establish in what proportion of these cases the only reason for such a result was that a confession statement was held to be inadmissible because it had been improperly obtained, but it is thought that the proportion was not high.