HC Deb 22 November 1976 vol 919 cc916-7W
Mr. Hordern

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many murders have been committed by persons of unsound mind, who have been committed subsequently to mental hospitals since 1945; how many of these have since been released; and whether any have later committed murder.

Mr. John

I regret that this information is not available. I am not aware of any case in the last 10 years where a person previously convicted of homicide in England and Wales and released from a psychiatric hospital has once again been convicted of homicide. Two women, however, have been convicted of homicide after discharge from hospital, each of whom had previously been charged with the murder of her child and who had then been found insane on arraignment and guilty but insane respectively.