§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of the murders committed in the Metropolitan police area in 1981 and 1982, respectively, were found to have been committed by people who later committed suicide, by people who immediately confessed their guilt and by people who were relatives, neighbours or close friends of the victims; and what percentage each of these categories represented of murders cleared up in each of these years.
§ Mr. MellorIn a case of homicide it is not possible in the absence of a court decision to distinguish between offences of murder, manslaughter and infanticide. None of the 114 offences currently recorded as homicide in the Metropolitan Police district in 1981 were found to have been committed by people who subsequently committed suicide. Of these 114 homicides, 29 were decided by the courts to be murder and in a further 18 cases there was no suspect. In 20 of these 29 murders the victim and principal suspect were acquainted; the nature of their relationship 213W is shown in the following table. Corresponding information for 1982 will become available later this year. Information is not available centrally on immediate confessions of guilt.
Offences of murder in the Metropolitan Police district in 1981 in which the victim was acquainted with the suspect* Relationship of victim to suspect Number of offences Son or daughter 4 Parent — Spouse, cohabitant or former spouse or cohabitant 5 Other family 1 Lover or former lover† 3 Friend or acquaintance 6 Other associate 1 TOTAL 20 * As at 1 June 1983; figures are subject to revision as cases of homicide are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. † Includes spouse's lover or lover's spouse.
§ Mr. Favellasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons convicted of murder had previous convictions for crimes of violence for each year since 1953.
§ Mr. MellorI regret the information requested is not readily available. The available information is given in the following table and relates to persons who were convicted of murder and had previous homicide convictions. Corresponding information for all those convicted of homicide is published in table 4.9 of the latest issue of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales" for 1981 (Cmnd. 8668).
214W
Suspects Convicted of Murder by Previous Homicide Convictions England and Wales Year initially recorded Number of persons previously convicted of homicide 1953 — 1954 — 1955 — 1956 — 1957 — 1958 — 1959 — 1960 — 1961 — 1962 1 1963 1 1964 2 1965 — 1966 — 1967 — 1968 — 1969 — 1970 1 1971 — 1972 — 1973 — 1974 †— 1975 1 1976 2 1977 3 1978 2 1979 ‡1 1980 ║¶— 1981 1 *1982 1
* Provisional; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available. † In addition, one person previously convicted of murder in Northern Ireland. ‡ In addition, one person previously convicted of culpable homicide in Scotland. ║ In addition, one person previously convicted of common law manslaughter in Hong Kong. ¶ In addition, one suspect of an offence recorded in 1980 who committed suicide had previously been convicted of homicide.