HC Deb 11 December 1979 vol 975 cc540-1W
Mr. George Cunningham

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many prosecutions were brought in respect of the offence of being a suspected person loitering with intent in each of the past three years; and what was the breakdown between police force areas;

(2) what proportion of prosecutions brought for the offence of being a suspected person and loitering with intent to commit an arrestable offence has resulted in conviction in any periods for which figures are available.

Mr. Brittan

The total numbers of persons proceeded against and found guilty in England and Wales of offences of being a suspected person frequenting a public place with intent to commit an arrestable offence are published annually in the "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales"—offence classification 186 in table 1(a) of the volume for 1978, Cmnd. 7670. The additional information requested is given in the following table.

PERSONS PROCEEDED AGAINST FOR OFFENCES OF BEING A SUSPECTED PERSON FREQUENTING A PUBLIC PLACE WITH INTENT TO COMMIT AN ARRESTABLE OFFENCE BY POLICE FORCE AREA
England and Wales
Numbers and percentages
Police force area 1976 1977 1978
Avon and Somerset 17 20 13
Bedfordshire 4 6 8
Cambridgeshire 3 8 10
Cheshire 29 29 42
Cleveland 14 14 25
Cumbria 5 4 22
Derbyshire 5 10 9
Devon and Cornwall 22 21 15
Dorset 5 8
Durham 1 4 4
Essex 9 12 14
Gloucestershire 3 8 8
Greater Manchester 250 240 263
Hampshire 65 45 50
Hertfordshire 4 8 5
Humberside 32 27 28
Kent 3 3 5
Lancashire 54 26 57
Leicestershire 4 9 6
Lincolnshire 4 3
London, City of 49 69 89
Merseyside 415 489 553
Metropolitan Police District 1,914 1,890 1,970
Norfolk 4 7 11
Northamptonshire 6 5 5
Northumbria 42 45 44
North Yorkshire 12 8 14
Nottinghamshire 14 13 27
South Yorkshire 18 16 26
Staffordshire 18 19 18
Suffolk 4 8 2
Surrey 4 1 3
Sussex 15 4 15
Thames Valley 43 21 28
Warwickshire 1 6
West Mercia 3 1 7
West Midlands 167 139 167
West Yorkshire 82 69 85
Wiltshire 5 5 2
England 3,340 3,312 3,667
Dyfed-Powys 3 5 5
Gwent 1 3
North Wales 9 5 4
South Wales 148 125 112
Wales 161 135 124
England and Wales—
Total 3,501 3,447 3,791
Percentage found guilty 78 75 73

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