HC Deb 26 October 1988 vol 139 cc257-9W
Mr. Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the percentage of those charged with shop-lifting who pleaded guilty or not guilty in(a) magistrates' courts, and (b) Crown courts in (i) England and Wales and (ii) the Basildon area for each of the last six years.

Mr. John Patten

The information requested is not available as reliable data on plea are not collected centrally.

Mr. Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many persons were(a) charged and (b) convicted of shoplifting in each of the last five years; and what percentage the latter is to the former;

(2) how many persons were (a) charged and (b) convicted of shoplifting in the Basildon area for each of the last five years; and what percentage the latter is to the former.

Mr. John Patten

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my right hon. Friend to the question from the hon. and learned Member for Leicester, West (Mr. Janner) on 4 December 1987 at columns749–50.

Details in respect of the Basildon area are not available, but the following table gives information for Billericay petty sessional division and Chelmsford Crown court for 1986 and 1987. Comparable data for earlier years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Persons proceeded against and found guilty of offences of theft from shops
England and Wales Number of persons1
1986 1987
Billericay psd:
Proceeded against2 314 353
Found guilty 265 280
Proportion found guilty per cent. 84 79
Chelmsford Crown Court:
For trial 81 67
Found guilty 64 53

England and Wales Number of persons1
1986 1987
Proportion found guilty per cent. 79 79
England and Wales
Magistrates' courts:
Proceeded against2 73,345 69,028
Found guilty 60,708 55,032
Proportion found guilty per cent. 83 80
Crown Court:
For trial 4,444 4,408
Found guilty 3,326 3,497
Proportion found guilty per cent. 75 79
1 As shown by the records held centrally, which are approximate.
2 Include those committed to the Crown Court for trial.

Mr. Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the percentage of shop-lifting cases coming before the courts, expressed as a percentage of all cases coming before(a) magistrates' and (b) Crown courts in (i) England and Wales and (ii) the Basildon area for each of the last six years;

(2) what percentage of cases were heard in (a) magistrates' courts and (b) Crown courts in (i) England and Wales and (ii) the Basildon area concerning people on charges of (aa) shoplifting, (bb) theft and (cc) breaking and entering; and what percentage in each category of crime, for each court, was found guilty or not guilty for each of the last six years.

Mr. John Patten

The information requested in respect of England and Wales is published annually in volumes 1 and 2 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, Supplementary Tables."

Details for the Basildon area are not available, but the following table gives information for Billericay petty sessional division and Chelmsford Crown court for 1986 and 1987. Comparable data for earlier years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

I also refer my hon. Friend to the reply given today to another question from him.

Reasons proceeded againt or tried for selected offences
Percentages
Theft from shops All thefts Burglary
1986 1987 1986 1987 1986 1987
Magistrates' court
Percentage of total number proceeded against for all indictable offences
Billericay psd 4.2 6.0 7.8 11.6 1.6 2.3
England and Wales 3.4 3.8 8.8 10.2 3.1 3.8
Percentage of those proceeded against1 found guilty
Billericay psd 84 79 75 73 39 53
England and Wales 83 80 77 73 54 49
Crown court
Percentage of total number tried for all offences
Chelmsford 5.2 4.4 23.3 22.2 15.5 18.9
England and Wales 4.6 4.3 22.5 21.2 21.0 21.4
Percentage of those tried found guilty
Chelmsford 79 79 81 83 95 94
England and Wales 75 79 79 82 93 93
1 Including those committed to the Crown court for trial

Mr. Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of alleged shop-lifting offences were for goods to the value of(a) under £5, (b) between £5 and £10 and (c) over £10 for each of the last six years for which statistics are available; and what was the percentage of acquittals in magistrates' courts and Crown courts, in each of the three categories, for the years concerned in (i) England and Wales and (ii) the Basildon area.

Mr. John Patten

Information about the value of goods stolen from shops for offences recorded by the police is published annually in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales" (in table 2.13 of the issue for 1987, Cm. 498). It is not possible, however, from the records of court proceedings held centrally to distinguish the value of goods stolen for offences of theft from shops. Details of proceedings for such offences can be found in volumes 1 and 2 of the supplementary tables to the criminal statistics, under offence classification 46.

Mr. Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the number of shoplifting cases brought before the courts in each of the last 10 years; what were the numbers for each year of those acquitted and convicted respectively; and how many of those acquitted and convicted were facing their first criminal charge.

Mr. John Patten

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my hon. Friend to a question from the hon. and learned Member for Leicester, West (Mr. Janner) on 4 December 1987 at columns 749–50. The supplementary tables for 1987 will be placed in the Library in about one week's time. Information about the previous court appearances, if any, of defendants proceeded against for theft from shops is not available.

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