§ Mr. Tom Boardmanasked the Attorney-General during the last period of 12 months for which figures are available, what was the average period of imprisonment served by successful appellants serving prison sentences between the date of conviction and the date when such conviction was quashed.
The Attorney-General:I assume that the hon. Member has in mind appeals to the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal where the quashing of a conviction has resulted in the appellant being no longer liable to be detained in custody. The figures for a period of 12 months are not readily available, but during the 6 months ending on 30th April last, 20 such cases were disposed of; for these, the average time spent in custody between conviction and disposal of the appeal was 214 days.