False Imprisonment

HC Deb 06 April 1982 vol 21 cc270-3W

Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been paid compensation for false imprisonment in each of the last 10 years; and what amounts they were paid.

Mr. Whitelaw

The available information is contained in the following table. Those to whom payment was made under the head of "wrongful imprisonment" include

Year	Wrongful Imprisonment	Amounts (£)	Excessive Detention	Amounts (£)	Total
1972	None	Nil	1	25	1
1973	1	750	3	200	4
				25
				25
1974	1	17,500	2	45	3
				70
1975	1	2,000	4	1,500	5
				150
				100
				80
1976	5	5,000	5	1,000	10
		10,000		100
		1,000		250
		1,000		35
		1,000		130
1977	1	2,500	7	250	8
				40
				290
				50
				150
				43
				775
1978	6	1,100	2	90	8
		1,500		50
		987
		10,000
		160
		10,000
1979	8	1,109	7	65	15
		1,469		260
		750		36
		1,854		40
		10,915		26
		21,020		640
		4,575		52
		15,575
1980	17	6,500	7	600	24
		9,170		104
		10,050		26
		10,710		3,200
		7,500		45
		7,500		5,320
		14,417		495
		750
		13,500
		13,100
		7,500
		8,500
		13,050
		5,690
		5,000
		1,000
		1,500

persons released from custody after their convictions had been quashed by the Court of Appeal, persons remanded in custody but not proceeded against, persons acquitted at trial and persons released from prison by the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. Payments to persons whose detention in custody was unlawfully prolonged because of a miscalculation of sentence or other administrative error are shown separately under the heading of "excessive detention".

Year	Wrongful Imprisonment	Amounts (£)	Excessive Detention	Amounts (£)	Total
1981	7	9,950	5	15	12
		180		345
		8,142		165
		25,000		500
		18,000		450
		22,000
		1,000

Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what provision is available for a person to appeal against the official assessor's recommendation of compensation following false imprisonment.

Mr. Whitelaw

There is no provision for any formal appeal, but representations against the amount of ex-gratia awards are referred to the assessor if they contain some new argument or consideration that has not previously been advanced or which there is reason to believe the assessor may have overlooked.