HC Deb 27 July 1984 vol 64 cc812-7W
Mr. J. Enoch Powell

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the security statistics for the first six months of 1984 are now available.

Mr. Prior

Yes. The following is the information:

STATISTICS ON SECURITY

  • Part I—Statistics of Terrorist Activity
  • Yearly totals for 1971–1983
  • Six monthly total for January—June 1984
  • 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 armed robberies and amount stolen
    6. (vi) Number of malicious fires
    7. (vii) Number of deaths and injuries of RUC/RUC'R', Army and civilians.
  • Part II—Statistics of Security Forces' Activity
  • Yearly totals for 1971–1983
  • Six monthly total for January—June 1984
  • Statistics for security forces' activity compromise 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 organisation etc.)

1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Injuries
Civilian 1,838 3,813 1,812 1,680 2,044 2,162 1,027 548 557
Army/UDR 390 578 548 483 167 264 188 135 153
RUC/RUC 'R' 315 485 291 235 263 303 183 302 165
* Figures in () refer to shots heard only and are not included in the total.
† Estimated weight only.
‡ No figure for April-June 1981.
║ Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.

Statistics on security—Part I (yearly figures)
1980 1981 1982 1983 January to June 1984
Shooting Incidents* 642 815 (327) 382 (165) 290 (134) 115(37)
Explosions 280 398 219 266 123
Bombs neutralised 120 131 113 101 33
Weight of explosives in lbs†
Explosions 9,059 9,621 11,199 6,923 3,457
Neutralised 6,405 9,168 7,300 7,503 3,345
Armed robberies 412 587 580 622 344
Amount stolen £496,829 £854,929 £1,392,202 £830,258 £345,530
Malicious Fires‡║ 275 536 499 528 390
Deaths
Civilian 50 57 57 44 19
Army/UDR 16 23 28 15 13
RUC/RUC'R' 9 21 12 18 7
Injuries
Civilian 530 878 328 280 210
Army/UDR 77 140 98 88 45
RUC/RUC'R' 194 332 99 142 104
* Figures in () refer to shots heard only and are not included in the total.
† Estimated weight only.
‡ No figure for April—June 1981.
║ Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.

Statistics on security—Part II (yearly figures)
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Houses searched* 17,262 36,617 74,556 71,914 30,092 34,939 20,724 15,462 6,452
Finds
Firearms 717 1,264 1,595 1,260 825 837 590 400 301
Ammunition (rounds) 157,944 183,410 187,399 147,202 73,604 70,306 52,091 43,512 46,280
Explosives 2,748 41,488 38,418 26,120 11,565 21,714 3,809 2,108 1,996
* Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.

Persons charged with terrorist type offences*
1972‡ 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Murder 13 71 77 138 120 131 60 45
Attempted murder 16 85 76 88 121 135 79 39
Firearms offences 242 631 545 460 353 301 225 177
Explosives offences 86 236 161 100 215 146 79 40
Theft Act 111 186 239 314 188 203 151 159
Other 63 205 276 97 279 392 249 210
Total 531 1,414 1,374 1,197 1,276 1,308 843 670
* These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years.
† 31 July to 31 December.

Statistics on security—part II (yearly figures)
1980 1981 1982 1983 Jan. to June 1984
Houses searched* 4,106 4,104 4,045 1,494 775
Finds
Firearms 203 409 317 200 120
Ammunition 28,078 47,127 41,452 32,451 16,189
Explosives 1,810 7,536 5,066 3,762 7,343

Persons charged with terrorist type offences†
1980 1981 1982 1983 Jan. to June 1984
Murder 63 48 50 75 30
Attempted murder 59 72 96 60 37
Firearms offences 112 155 173 150 80
Explosives offences 39 39 41 48 18
Theft act 128 158 130 119 62
Other 149 446 196 161 57
Total 550 918 686 613 284
* Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.
† These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years.

Convictions—for scheduled offences—January-June 1984
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 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
Attempted murder 7 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 1 1
Conspiracy to murder 6 0 0 1 0 4 0 1 0 0
Manslaughter 5 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
Wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Causing grievous bodily harm 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Assault occasioning grievious bodily harm 11 6 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Causing explosion 4 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0
Placing explosive 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Possessing explosives with intent 5 1 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0
Other explosive offences 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Possessing a firearm with intent 33 15 1 8 8 0 1 0 0 0
Possessing a firearm 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Carrying a firearm with intent 15 11 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other major firearms offences 4 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Minor firearms offences 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Robbery 88 32 4 25 17 7 3 0 0 0
Aggravated robbery 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Attempted robbery 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Burglary 9 2 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Membership of illegal organisations 3 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
Unlawful collection of information
2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Illegal training 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kidnapping and false imprisonment 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Contributing to resources of a proscribed organisation
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Soliciting support for a proscribed organisation 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Malicious damage 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Possession of an offensive weapon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hijacking 21 16 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Attempted hijacking 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Arson 13 9 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Petrol bomb offences 19 13 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Criminal damage 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Escape offences 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Assisting offenders 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Intimidation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Withholding information 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Possessing prohibited articles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Common law riot 5 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Conspiracy to arm terrorists 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 272 123 22 59 30 15 13 2 1 7
Persons convicted and sentences imposed at Belfast Crown Court January to June 1984

Notes on the table

1.The offence classifications are based on those used by the Crown and Peace Office in their annual return.

2. The table relate to persons convicted at the Belfast Crown Court. This covers all scheduled offences tried on indictment.

3. Some jury trials are included in cases where the Attorney-General certified out of the scheduled mode of trial, ie non-terrorist serious offences.

4. Where a person has been convicted of more than one offence only the most serious or that which received the longest sentence is recorded in the statistics.