HC Deb 26 October 1967 vol 751 cc518-9W
12. Sir C. Osborne

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give in column form the number of murders for each of the last 10 years, and for 1967 to the latest convenient date, for all crimes designated as murder on the same basis as 1957.

Mr. Roy Jenkins

The latest corrected figures for offences of murder known to the police in England and Wales are:

1957 151
1958 125
1959 141
1960 135
1961 130
1962 142
1963 133
1964 153
1965 151
1966 141

All the figures are given on the same basis, except that those for 1957 may include some offences for the first two months of that year which, as a result of the Homicide Act 1957, would not now be classified as murder. The figure for 1966, which has recently been reduced by 2 as a result of decisions by the Court of Appeal, still includes one offence not yet disposed of by the courts. I hope to be able to give the 1967 figures next May.