§ Mr. Meacherasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland, how many persons have died each year since 1970 in Scotland whilst detained in police custody as a result of, respectively (a) natural
(a) (b) (c) Natural causes Non-natural causes Suicide 16 May 1975 to 31 December 1975 … … … 2 1 0 1976 … … … … … … … 4 7 1 1977 … … … … … … … 4 5 2 1978 … … … … … … … 5 8 2 1979 to date (provisional) … … … … 2 3 1 All the non-natural deaths apart from one, presently the subject of inquiry, involved the effects of excessive consumption of drugs of alcohol or both. Deaths in police custody include any death in police custody—for example, en route to hospital in an ambulance.