§ Mrs. Winifred Ewingasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what convictions by Scottish criminal courts have been held to be wrongfully arrived at in the last 10 years; and if he will list them.
§ Mr. William RossThe numbers of convictions in Scotland which were quashed on appeal to the High Court of Justiciary, together with the numbers of free pardons granted by the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy during each of the last 10 years, are shown in the table below.
Number of convictions quashed by the High Court Number of Free Pardons granted by the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy* 1974 54† 6 1973 63 5 1972 43 3 1971 24 2 1970 22 1 1969 25 2 1968 26 5 1967 21 4 1966 26 4 1965 17 6 *Some of these free pardons involved more than one person and exceptionally one of them involved 483 persons. † The 1974 figure is provisional.