HC Deb 04 July 1990 vol 175 cc583-4W
Mr. Tony Lloyd

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total number of criminal verdicts of manslaughter or murder and the relevant verdict at the inquest for each of the years 1974 to 1989, inclusive.

Mr. Waddington

The number of criminal verdicts is given in table 4.2 of the Command Paper "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales", and the number of inquest verdicts is given in table 5 of the Home Office statistical bulletin "Statistics of Deaths reported to Coroners, England and Wales". Copies of both these publications are in the Library.

The inquest verdicts exclude cases where court proceedings have been instituted. In these cases a coroner will not resume an inquest which he has adjourned, to avoid the need for two tribunals to consider the same evidence.