HC Deb 07 February 1983 vol 36 cc238-41W
Mr. J. Enoch Powell

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the security statistics for 1982 are yet available.

Mr. Prior

Yes, I am including in the reply details of convictions obtained during the period July-December 1982. The following is the information:

Statistics on Security

  • Part 1—Statistics of terrorist activity
  • Yearly totals for 1971–1981
  • Six monthly total for January-June 1982
  • Six monthly total for July-December 1982
  • Statistics for Terrorist activity comprise the following:
    1. (i) Number of shooting incidents
    2. (ii) Number of explosions
    3. (iii) Number of bombs and devices neutralised
    4. (iv) Weight of explosives in bombs and devices neutralised
    5. (v) Number of malicious fires
    6. (vi) Number of armed robberies and amount stolen
    7. (vii) Number of deaths and injuries of RUC/RUC'R', army and civilians.
  • Part II-Statistics of security forces activity
  • Yearly totals for 1971–1981
  • Six monthly total for January-June 1982
  • Six monthly totals for July-December 1982
  • Statistics for security forces activity comprise the following:
    1. (i) Number of houses searched
    2. (ii) Number of weapons, pounds of explosives and rounds of ammunition found
    3. (iii) Number of people charged with terrorist type offences (murder, attempted murder, explosives offences, firearms offences, armed robbery and other offences relating to the security situation eg arson, membership of illegal organisations, etc.)

1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
Deaths: civilians 115 322 171 166 216 245 69
Deaths: Army/UDR 48 129 66 35 20 29 29
Deaths: RUC/RUC 'R' 11 17 13 15 11 23 14
Injuries: civilians 1,838 3,813 1,812 1,680 2,044 2,162 1,027
Injuries: Army/UDR 390 578 548 483 167 264 188
Injuries: RUC/RUC 'R' 315 485 291 235 263 303 183
* Estimated weight only.
† Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.

Yearly Figures (1978–1982)
1978 1979 1980 1981 January-June 1982 July-December 1982
815 201 181
Shooting incidents* 755 728 642 (327) (98) (67)
Explosions 455 422 280 398 139 80
Bombs neutralised 178 142 120 131 69 44
Weight of Explosives (in lb)†
In explosions 5,343 11,180.75 9,059 9,621 9,226.61 1,972
Neutralised 5,860.5 4,530.5 6,404.8 9,168 4,434.23 2,866
Armed robberies 442 434 412 587 279 301
Amount stolen £232,650 £568,359 £496,829 £854,929 £711,694 £680,508
Malicious fires‡║ 269 315 275 536 273 226
Deaths: civilians 50 51 50 57 21 36
Deaths: Army/UDR 21 48 16 23 10 18
Deaths: RUC/RUC 'R' 10 14 9 21 4 8
Injuries: civilians 548 557 530 878 226 102
Injuries: Army/UDR 135 153 77 140 36 62
Injuries: RUC/RUC 'R' 302 165 194 332 42 57
* Figures in brackets refer to shots heard only and are not included in the total.
† Estimated weight only.
‡ Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.
║ No figure available for April-June 1981.

Statistics on SecurityPart II
Yearly figures (1971–1977)
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
Houses searched* 17,262 36,617 74,556 71,914 30,092 34,939 20,724
Finds: firearms 717 1,264 1,595 1,260 825 837 590
Finds: ammunition (rds) 157,944 183,410 187,399 147,202 73,604 70,306 52,091
Finds: explosives (lbs) 2,748 41,488 38,418 26,120 11,565 21,714 3,809
* Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.

Yearly Figures (1978–82)
1978 1979 1980 1981 January-June 1982 July-December 1982
Houses searched* 15,462 6,452 4,106 4,104 1,730 2,315
Finds: firearms 400 301 203 398 196 125
Finds: ammunition (rounds) 43,512 46,280 28,078 47,070 17,615 23,838
Finds: explosives (lb) 2,108 1,996.25 1,810 7,536 89 4,977
*Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.

Persons Charged With Terrorist Type Offences*
31 July—31 Dec Jan-June July-Dec
1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1982
Murder 13 71 77 138 120 131 60 45 63 48 32 18
Attempted murder 16 85 76 88 121 135 79 39 59 72 55 41
Firearms offences 242 631 545 460 353 301 225 177 112 155 84 89
Explosives offences 86 236 161 100 215 146 79 40 39 39 20 21
Theft Act 111 186 239 314 188 203 151 159 128 158 79 51
Other 63 205 276 97 279 392 249 210 149 446 125 71
TOTAL 531 1,414 1,374 1,197 1,276 1,308 843 670 550 918 395 291
* These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years.

July-December 1982—Convictions for Scheduled Offences
Offence Number convicted Non-custodial sentence Young offenders centre training schools Less than 5 years 5 years and less than 7 years 7 years and less than 10 years 10 years and less than 15 years 15 years and less than 20 years 20 years and over Life
Murder 2 2
Attempted murder 4 2 1 1
Conspiracy to murder 1 1
Manslaughter 3 2 1
Wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm 9 1 3 2 2 1
Possessing explosives with intent 14 4 4 2 4
Possessing a firearm with intent 16 3 6 2 1 4
Possessing a firearm 1 1
Carrying a firearm with intent 5 1 3 1
Other major firearms offences 38 21 1 7 7 2
Robbery 69 19 13 19 12 5 1
Hijacking 23 17 2 2 1 1
Arson 7 6 1
Petrol bomb offences 24 20 3 1
Common law riot 1 1
Membership of illegal organisations 4 4
Total 221 93 20 46 29 16 12 2 1 2