HC Deb 21 October 1987 vol 120 cc758-61W
Mr. McNamara

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the security statistics for the first half of 1987 are now available, together with details of persons charged with terrorist-type offences and convictions for scheduled offences for the year; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Stanley

I regret that the statistics given to the hon. Member in my answer on 24 July at columns 631–36 were incomplete.

The statistics requested by the hon. Member are available, together with those since 1971, and are as follows:

STATISTICS ON SECURITY

Part I—Statistics of Terrorist Activity

Yearly totals for 1971–86

Six-monthly totals for: January-June 1987

Statistics for terrorist activity comprise the following:

  1. (i) Number of shooting incidents
  2. (ii) Number of explosions
  3. (iii) Number of bombs and devices neutralised
  4. (iv) Weight of explosives in bombs and devices neutralised
  5. (v) Number of armed robberies and amount stolen
  6. (vi) Number of malicious fires
  7. (vii) Number of deaths and injuries of RUC-RUC'R', Army and civilians

Part II—Statistics of Security Forces' Activity

Yearly totals for 1971–86

Six-monthly totals for: January-June 1987

Statistics for security forces' activity comprise the following:

  1. (i) Number of houses searched
  2. (ii) Number of weapons, pounds of explosives and rounds of ammunition found
  3. (iii) Number of people charged with terrorist type offences (murder, attempted murder, explosives offences, firearms offences, armed robbery and other offences relating to the security situation, eg: arson, membership of illegal organisation etc)

Part III — Statistics of Persons Convicted of Scheduled Offences

Six-monthly total for January-June 1987

1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Armed Robberies 437 1,931 1,215 1,231 1,201 813 591 442 434
Amount stolen 303,787 790,687 612,015 572,951 572,105 545,497 446,988 232,650 568,359
Malicious Fires2 3 — — 587 636 248 453 432 269 315
Deaths: Civilian 115 321 171 166 216 245 69 50 51
Army/UDR 48 129 66 35 20 29 29 21 48
RUC/RUC 'R' 11 17 13 15 11 23 14 10 14
Injuries: Civilian 1,838 3,813 1,812 1,680 2,044 2,162 1,027 548 557
Army/UDR 390 578 548 483 167 264 188 135 153
RUC/RUC'R' 315 485 291 235 263 303 183 302 165
1 Estimated weight only.
2 Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.
3 No figure for April-June 1981.
4 Figures in ( ) refer to shots heard only and not included in the total.

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 January— June 1987
Shooting Incidents4 642 815 382 290 230 196 285 276
(327) (165) (134) (104) (41) (107) (31)
Explosions 280 398 219 266 193 148 172 131
Bombs Neutralised 120 131 113 101 55 67 82 72
Weight of explosives in lbs1 9,059 9,261 11,199 6,923 8,545 11,711 11,309 3,777
Explosions Neutralised 6,405 9,168 7,300 7,503 6,114 7,715 9,463 3,493
Armed Robberies 412 587 580 622 627 459 724 436
Amount stolen 496,825 854,929 1,392,202 830,258 701,903 655,690 1,207,152 870,693
Malicious Fires2 3 275 536 499 528 840 740 906 359
Deaths:
Civilian 50 57 57 44 36 25 37 37
Army/UDR 16 23 28 15 19 6 12 8
RUC/RUC'R' 9 21 12 18 9 23 12 11
Injuries:
Civilian 530 878 328 280 513 468 773 324
Army/UDR 77 140 98 88 86 33 55 58
RUC/RUC'R' 194 332 99 142 267 415 622 109
1 Estimated weight only.
2 Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.
3 No figure for April—June 1981.
4 Figures in ( ) refer to shots heard only and not included in the total.

Statistics on security
Part II—Statistics of security forces' activity
Yearly figures: 1971 to 1979
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Houses searched1 17,262 36,617 74,556 71,914 30,092 34,939 20,724 15,462 6,452
Finds
Firearms 717 1,264 1,595 1,260 825 837 590 400 301
Ammunition (rounds) 157,944 183,410 187,399 147,202 73,604 70,306 52,091 43,512 46,280
Explosives 2,748 41,488 38,418 26,120 11,565 21,714 3,809 2,108 1,996
Persons charged with terrorist type offences2
Murder 13 71 77 138 120 131 60 45
Attempted murder 16 85 76 88 121 135 79 39
Firearms offences 242 631 545 460 353 301 225 177
Explosives offences 86 236 161 100 215 146 79 40
Theft Act 111 186 239 314 188 203 151 159
Other 63 205 276 97 279 392 249 210
Total 531 1,414 1,374 1,197 1,276 1,308 843 670
1 Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.
2 These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years. 1972 figures cover 31 July to 31 December only.

Yearly figures 1980 to 1987
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 21987
Houses searched1 4,106 4,104 4,045 1,497 1,282 812 1,273 724
Finds
Firearms 203 409 317 200 197 238 215 158
Ammunition (rounds) 28,078 47,127 41,452 32,451 17,211 13,748 29,061 6,045

1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 21987
Explosives 1,810 7,536 5,066 3,762 8,534 7,373 5,386 6,087
Persons charged with terrorist type offences
Murder 63 48 50 75 41 24 12 6
Attempted murder 59 72 96 60 68 52 28 6
Firearms offences 112 155 173 150 155 105 128 73
Explosives offences 39 39 41 48 21 37 31 11
Theft Act 128 158 130 119 94 65 70 47
Other 149 446 196 161 149 239 386 95
Total 550 918 686 613 528 522 655 238
1 Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.
2 January to June.

STATISTICS ON SECURITY (PART III)

January-June 1987

Notes on the tables

1. The offence classifications are based on those used by the Crown and Peace Office in its annual return.

2. The tables relate to persons convicted at the Belfast Crown court. This covers all scheduled offences tried on indictment.

Convictions for scheduled offences—January-June 1987
Offence Number convicted Non-Custodial sentence Young Offenders Centre Training Schools Less than 5 years 5 years and less than 7 years 7 years and less than 10 years 10 years and less than 15 years 15 years and less than 20 years 20 years and over Life
Murder 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
Attempted murder 6 0 0 0 0 1 4 1 0 0
Conspiracy to murder 12 1 1 1 1 1 5 2 0 0
Manslaughter 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
Causing grievous bodily harm 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Assault occasioning grievous bodily harm 8 2 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Causing explosion 5 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0
Possessing explosives with intent 9 1 0 0 1 1 0 3 3 0
Other explosives offences 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Possessing a firearm with intent 53 20 7 9 9 3 2 2 1 0
Possessing a firearm 10 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Carrying a firearm with intent 11 10 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Other major firearms offences 4 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
Robbery 82 26 7 23 20 3 3 0 0 0
Membership of illegal organisations 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Unlawful collection of information 3 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Contributing to resources of a proscribed organisation 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hijacking 36 29 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Arson 52 40 3 5 3 0 1 0 0 0
Petrol bomb offences 43 36 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Criminal damage 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Intimidation 10 2 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
Withholding information 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Possessing prohibited articles 7 4 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0
Common law riot 15 13 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 391 214 34 53 41 14 17 8 4 6

Note: Where a person has been convicted of more than one offence only the most serious or that which received the longest sentence is recorded in the statistics.