HC Deb 07 March 1988 vol 129 cc68-72W
Mr. McNamara

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if security statistics for Northern Ireland for the second half of 1987 are now available, together with details of persons charged with terrorist-type offences and convictions for scheduled offences for the year.

Mr. Stanley

[holding answer 2 March 1988]: Yes, the statistics together with those since 1971 are as follows:

Statistics on Security

PART I

Statistics of Terrorist Activity

Yearly totals for 1971–1987

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 1971–1987

Statistics for security forces' 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, for example, arson, membership of illegal organisation and so on.

PART III

Statistics of Persons Convicted of Scheduled Offences

Yearly totals for 1983–1987

Part I—continued
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987
Shooting incidents1 642 815 382 290 230 196 285 489
(327) (165) (134) (104) (41) (107) (185)
Explosions 280 398 219 266 193 148 172 236
Bombs neutralised 120 131 113 101 55 67 82 148
Weight of explosives in lbs2
Explosions 9,059 9,261 11,199 6,923 8,545 11,711 11,309 5,767
Neutralised 6,405 9,168 7,300 7,503 6,114 7,715 9,463 8,818
Armed robberies 412 587 580 622 627 459 724 858
Amount stolen 496,825 854,929 1,392,202 830,258 701,903 655,690 1,207,152 1,900,098
Malicious fires3 4 275 536 499 528 840 740 906 506
Deaths:
Civilian 50 57 57 44 36 25 37 66
Army/UDR 16 23 28 15 19 6 12 11
RUC/RUC 'R' 9 21 12 18 9 23 12 16
Injuries:
Civilian 530 878 328 280 513 468 773 780
Army/UDR 77 140 98 88 86 33 55 104
RUC/RUC 'R' 194 332 99 142 267 415 622 246
1 Figures in ( ) refer to shots heard only and not included in the total.
2 Estimated weight only.
3 Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.
4 No figure for April-June 1981.

Statistics on security Part II—statistics of security forces' activity Yearly figures: 1971–87
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Houses searched1 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

Persons charged with terrorist type offences2
31972 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 392249 210
Total 531 1,414 1,374 1,197 1,276 1,308 843 670
1 Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.
2 These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years.
3 31 July to 31 December.

Part II—Continued
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987
Houses searched1 4,106 4,104 4,045 1,497 1,282 812 1,273 1,523
Finds
Firearms 203 409 317 200 197 238 215 267
Ammunition 28,078 47,127 41,452 32,451 27,211 13,748 29,061 19,796
Explosives 1,810 7,536 5,066 3,762 8,534 7,373 5,386 12,974
Persons charged with terrorist type offences2
Murder 63 48 50 75 41 24 12 28
Attempted Murder 59 72 96 60 68 52 28 21
Firearms Offences 112 155 173 150 155 105 128 132
Explosives Offences 39 39 41 48 21 37 31 22
Theft Act 128 158 130 119 94 65 70 109
Other 149 446 196 161 149 239 386 156
Total 550 918 686 613 528 522 655 468

1Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.

2These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier year

Notes on the Tables:

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

2. The tables 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, that is non-terrorist serious offences.

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

Convictions for scheduled offences
Number convicted Sentence (January-December 1987)
Offence 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 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 14 11 38 26 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10
Attempted murder 14 13 20 7 11 0 0 1 0 1 6 2 1 0
Conspiracy to murder 7 10 10 17 15 1 1 1 1 2 6 3 0 0
Manslaughter 3 5 2 9 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
Wounding with intent to do grevious bodily harm 7 1 8 19 8 5 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
Causing grevious bodily harm 7 3 2 13 10 6 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Assault occasioning grevious bodily harm 18 11 6 5 13 7 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Causing explosion 9 6 13 5 7 1 0 0 1 4 0 1 0 0
Placing explosives 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Possessing explosives with intent 12 20 16 20 21 4 0 0 2 1 2 7 5 0
Other explosives offences 5 2 6 5 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Possessing a firearm with intent 28 37 55 46 81 34 8 13 11 3 6 5 1 0
Possessing a firearm 0 8 53 20 16 14 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Carrying a firearm with intent 22 15 18 19 12 11 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Other major firearms offences 53 4 6 6 5 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
Minor firearms offences 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Robbery 191 132 160 156 159 55 13 52 29 6 4 0 0 0
Aggravated robbery 0 1 4 1 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Membership of illegal organisations 14 11 8 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Attempted robbery 0 11 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Soliciting support for proscribed organisation 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Unlawful collection of information 7 2 4 5 8 5 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
Illegal training 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kidnapping 2 1 8 9 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Blackmail 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0
Contributing to resources of a proscribed organisalion 5 1 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Burglary 0 10 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Aggravated burglary 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hijacking 45 37 28 41 56 43 8 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
Attempted hijacking 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Arson 32 17 32 59 74 52 7 10 4 0 1 0 0 0
Possession of an offensive weapon 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Petrol bomb offences 21 20 88 64 79 52 14 13 0 0 0 0 0 0
Escape offences 5 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Criminal damage 1 0 2 5 20 10 2 8 0 0 0 0 0 0
Intimidation 2 0 1 2 16 4 3 9 0 0 0 0 0 0
Assisting offenders 6 2 1 4 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Withholding information 12 1 3 9 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Possessing prohibited articles 1 13 2 3 9 6 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0
Conspiracy to arm terrorists 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Common law riot 1 19 3 5 23 17 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 550 430 645 584 679 346 64 130 56 21 27 18 7 10