Terrorism (Hansard, 1 November 1988)

§ Mr. McNamara
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons in England and Wales were charged with terrorist-type offences relating to Northern Ireland in the current year; how many of those charged were released on bail; and what was the average period between remand and trial for prisoners refused bail relating to such charges in Britain in the current year.

§ Mr. Hurd
In the current year one person has been charged with such an offence and he was remanded in custody for 47 days before trial. In addition the three persons remanded in custody last year on charges of conspiracy to murder the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland were further charged this year with conspiracy to murder persons unknown. The total period spent on remand by the three before trial was 393 days.

§ Mr. McNamara
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons were remanded in custody before trial for terrorist-type offences in the current year.

§ Mr. Hurd
Four.

§ Mr. McNamara
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish in theOfficial Report a table showing the number of deaths and injuries which have occurred in Great Britain in 1987 and 1988 connected with present civil unrest in Northern Ireland.

§ Mr. Hurd
In 1987 no homicides were recorded in England and Wales as attributed to acts of terrorism connected with Northern Ireland. Provisional information for the first nine months of 1988 is that there has been one such offence of homicide, in an IRA bombing in which nine persons were also injured. I understand from my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland that there were no such deaths or injuries recorded in Scotland either in 1987 or so far in 1988.

§ Mr. McNamara
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners in British prisons who give as their domicile Northern Ireland have been returned to Northern Ireland to serve the whole or part of their sentences in the current year; and how many of these prisoners were serving sentences for terrorist-type offences.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
Six inmates of English prisons who gave Northern Ireland as their domicile have been granted transfer to Northern Ireland at their own request to serve the remainder of their sentences since 1 January this year. One is serving a sentence for a terrorist-type offence. Not all these transfers have yet taken place. Transfers of inmates from Scotland to Northern Ireland are a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland.