HC Deb 26 March 1987 vol 113 cc226-7W
Mr. Teddy Taylor

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons previously convicted for homicide were convicted for a second homicide offence in the period from 1965 to 1986; and what were the figures within that total for each five-year period.

Mr. Mellor

Information is published in table 4.9 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, 1985" (Cm. 10), and the corresponding tables in the volumes for earlier years, and is summarised in the following table.

Suspects convicted of homicide by previous homicide convictions
England and Wales Number of persons
Year initially recorded as homicide Number previously convicted of homicide
1965 —
1966 1
1967 2
1968 —
1969 1
1970 2
1971 1
1972 —
1973 2
1974 3
1975 2
1976 3
1977 5
1978 4
1979 5
1980 1

Year initially recorded as homicide Number previously convicted of homicide
1981 4
1982 2
1983 3
1984 3
1985 (revised)1 2
1986 (provisional)1 1
1965–69 4
1970–74 8
1975–79 19
1980–84 13
1 As at 24 March 1987

Mr. Teddy Taylor

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if figures for the percentage increase in murders made known to the police (a) between 1945 and 1965 and (b) between 1965 and the most recent year are available separately from those listed under the heading "Offences initially recorded as homicide" in table 4.1 of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales 1985."

Mr. Mellor

In the absence of a court decision it is not possible to distinguish between offences of murder, manslaughter and infanticide — they are known collectively as homicide. Since 1967, the numbers of homicides decided to be murder are published annually in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales", in table 4.2 of the volume for 1985 (Cm. 10) and in the corresponding table in the volumes for earlier years. For persons convicted of murder, an indication of the changes in the numbers since 1945 may be obtained from the results of court proceedings which are published in table S2.1(a) of "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales, Supplementary Tables, 1985" and in the corresponding tables for earlier years.