§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many murders and acts of manslaughter have involved the use of illegal and unlicensed firearms in each of the last five years. [8809]
§ Mr. Michael[holding answer 16 July 1997]: In the past, information on whether firearms used in the crime are legally held or not has not been collected centrally in England and Wales as a matter of routine. However, a special exercise was conducted last year to obtain further information on homicides involving firearms. This covered the three years 1992 to 1994, and out of a total of 196 homicides involving the use of a firearm, information was available in 129 cases to show the weapon was illegally held.
These figures refer to offences initially recorded as homicide. Information was not collected on whether the final classification was murder or manslaughter, which is not available until a court decision is reached. Nor do all offenders come to court, or the offence remains undetected.
In 1995, the last year for which figures are available, 398 burglaries and thefts of handguns were reported, and 3,517 of other firearms. This demonstrates that legally held firearms can become a source for illegal weapons and used in serious crime.