§ Mr. HumeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for each of the past five years, how many life sentence prisoners convicted of murder held in British gaols have received parole in(a) the third, (b) the fourth, and (c) the fifth year of their sentence, indicating what minimum sentences had been recommended by courts.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe information is given in the table. All these prisoners were released on licence following a favourable recommendation by the parole board and after consultation with the judiciary as required by section 61 of the Criminal Justice Act 1967. None had been the subject of a formal minimum recommendation under section 1(2) of the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965.
More detailed information about all life sentence prisoners is given annually in "Prison Statistics — England and Wales" table 1(f) of the latest issue, for 1986 (Cm. 210), a copy of which is in the Library.
Persons serving sentences for murder released on licence between 1983 and 1987 from prison department establishments in England and Wales having served five years or less under sentence in such establishments.
Time under sentence1 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 Up to 2 years — — — — — Over 2, up to 3 years — — — — 1 Over 3, up to 4 years 1 — — — — Over 4, up to 5 years — 3 1 1 1 1 Excluding any time spent on remand in custody, in non-prison department establishments or following any subsequent recall.