§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it is true that ordinary criminal cases, such as armed robberies, attempted rape and indecent assault, are being heard in "Diplock" courts, and if so how this will be avoided in future.
The Lord ChancellorThe Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978 provides for the trial on indictment of certain offences (scheduled offences) to be 141WA conducted without a jury. Robbery is a scheduled offence where it is charged that an explosive, firearm, imitation firearm or weapon of offence was used to commit it. Attempted rape and indecent assault are not scheduled offences, but the Act provides that where separate counts of an indictment charge a scheduled offence and an offence which is not a scheduled offence, the trial is to be conducted as if all the offences charged were scheduled offences. This has led to the trial without a jury of one offence of attempted rape and one of indecent assault. Her Majesty's Government regard these legislative provisions as an appropriate part of the machinery of justice while it remains necessary to provide for some offences to be tried in Northern Ireland without a jury.