HC Deb 24 July 1986 vol 102 cc476-81W
Mr. Alton

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement regarding security procedures in Northern Ireland.

Mr. Scott

The Government remain committed to sustained effort under the rule of law designed to achieve the eradication of terrorism in Northern Ireland.

Mr. McNamara

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the security statistics for the first six months of the current year are now available together with details of persons charged with terrorist-type offences and convictions for scheduled offences for the year.

Mr. Tom King

[pursuant to his reply, 23 July 1986]: Yes, the statistics together with those since 1971 are as follows:

Statistics on Security

Part I

Statistics of Terrorist Activity

Yearly totals for 1971–1985

Six monthly totals for January-June 1986

Statistics for Terrorist Activity comprise the following:

  1. (i) Number of shooting incidents.
  2. ((ii) Number of explosions.
  3. (iii) Number of bombs 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 to RUC/RUC "R" Army/UDR and civilians.

Part II

Statistics of Security Forces' Activity

Yearly totals for 1971–1985

Six monthly totals for January-June 1986

Statistics for Security Force 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 an illegal organisation etc)).

Part III

Statistics of Persons Convicted of Scheduled Offences

Six monthly totals for January-June 1986

Statistics on Security
Pan I—Statistics of Terrorist Activity
Yearly Figures: 1971–74
1971 1972 1973 1974
Shooting incidents* 1,756 10,628 5,018 3,206
Explosions 1,022 1,382 978 685
Bombs neutralised 493 471 542 428
Weight of explosives in lbs†
Explosions 10,972 47,462 47,472 46,435
Neutralised 3,001 19,978 32,450 27,094
Armed robberies 437 1,931 1,215 1,231
Amount stolen 303,787 790,687 612,015 572,951
Malicious fires‡|| — — 587 636
Deaths
Civilian 115 322 171 166
Army/UDR 48 129 66 35
RUC/RUC "R" 11 17 13 15
Injuries
Civilian 1,838 3,813 1,812 1,680
Army/UDR 390 578 548 483
RUC/RUC "R" 315 485 291 235
* Figures in brackets refer to shots heard only and not included in the total.
† Estimated weight only.
‡ No figures for April-June 1981.
|| Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.

Yearly Figures: 1975–78
1975 1976 1977 1978
Shooting incidents* 1,803 1,908 1,081 755
Explosions 399 766 366 455
Bombs neutralised 236 426 169 178
Weight of exlosives in lbs† 13,753 17,596 2,839 5,343
Explosions neutralised 11,159 16,252 2,188 5,860.5
Armed robberies 1,201 813 591 422

1975 1976 1977 1978
Amount stolen 572,105 545,497 446,988 232,650
Malicious fires‡|| 248 453 432 269
Deaths
Civilian 216 245 69 50
Army/UDR 20 29 29 21
RUC/RUC "R" 11 23 14 10
Injuries
Civilian 2,044 2,162 1,027 548
Army/UDR 167 264 188 135
RUC/RUC "R" 263 303 183 302
* Figures in brackets refer to shots heard only and not included in the total.
† Estimated weight only.
‡ No figures for April-June 1981.
|| Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.

Yearly Figures: 1979–82
1979 1980 1981 1982
Shooting incidents* 728 642 815 (327) 382(165)
Explosions 422 280 398 219
Bombs neutralised 142 120 131 113
Weight of exlosives in lbs† 11,181 9,059 9,261 11,199
Explosions neutralised 4,530 6,405 9,168 7,300
Armed robberies 434 412 587 580
Amount stolen 568,359 496,825 854,929 1,392,202
Malicious fires‡|| 315 275 536 499
Deaths
Civilian 51 50 57 57
Army/UDR 48 16 23 28
RUC/RUC "R" 14 9 21 12
Injuries
Civilian 557 530 878 328
Army/UDR 153 77 140 98
RUC/RUC "R" 165 194 332 99
* Figures in brackets refer to shots heard only and not included in the total.
† Estimated weight only.
‡ No figures for April-June 1981.
|| Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.

Yearly Figures 1983—June 1986
1983 1984 1985 January-June 1986
Shooting indidents* 290(134) 230(104) 196(41) 131(49)
Explosions 266 193 148 60
Bombs neutralised 101 55 67 23
Weight of exlosives in lbs† 6,923 8,545 11,711 4,956
Explosions neutralised 7,503 6,114 7,715 4,688
Armed robberies 622 627 459 301
Amount stolen 830,258 701,903 655,690 538,507
Malicious fires‡|| 528 840 740 583
Deaths
Civilian 44 36 25 14
Army/UDR 15 19 6 7
RUC/RUC "R" 18 9 23 6
Injuries
Civilian 280 513 468 303
Army/UDR 88 86 33 28
RUC/RUC "R" 142 267 415 249
* Figures in brackets refer to shots heard only and not included in the total.
† Estimated weight only.
‡ No figures for April-June 1981.
|| Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.

Statistics on Security
Part II —Statistics of Security Forces' Activity Year Figures: 1971–1986
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†
31 July-31 December 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.

Part II—Continued
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Jan-June 1986
Houses searched* 4,106 4,104 4,045 1,497 1,282 812 572
Finds
Firearms 203 409 317 200 197 238 125
Ammunition 28,078 47,127 41,452 32,451 17,211 13,748 15,757
Explosives 1,810 7,536 5,066 3,762 8,534 7,373 1,244
* Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.

Persons charged with terrorist type offences†
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Jan-June 1986
Murder 63 48 50 75 41 24 5
Attempted Murder 59 72 96 60 68 52 20
Firearms Offences 112 155 173 150 155 105 67
Explosives Offences 39 39 41 48 21 37 6
Theft Act 128 158 130 119 94 65 35
Other 149 446 196 161 149 239 235
Total 550 918 686 613 528 522 368
† These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years.

Convictions for Scheduled Offences—January to 1 July 1986
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 21 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 20
Attempted murder 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0
Conspiracy to murder 11 2 0 0 1 1 4 3 0 0
Manslaughter 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0
Wounding with intent to
do grievous bodily
harm 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Causing grievous bodily harm 7 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Assault occasioning
grievous bodily harm 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Causing explosion 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0

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
Possessing explosives with intent 8 3 0 1 0 1 3 0 0 0
Other explosives offences 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Possessing a firearm with intent 23 11 5 2 0 3 2 0 0 0
Possessing a firearm 13 6 0 4 3 0 0 0 0 0
Carrying a firearm with intent 17 10 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 0
Other major firearms offences 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Robbery 91 43 15 27 6 0 0 0 0 0
Aggravated robbery 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Membership of illegal organisations 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Unlawful collection of information 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kidnapping and false imprisonment 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Contributing to resources of a proscribed organisation 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hijacking 27 16 5 6 0 0 0 0 0 0
Arson 32 14 10 6 2 0 0 0 0 0
Petrol bomb offences 34 19 11 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Criminal damage 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Assisting offenders 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Withholding information 4 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Possessing prohibited articles 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Common Law riot 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 327 149 54 59 19 6 13 7 0 20

Note: 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.

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