HC Deb 10 January 1989 vol 144 cc483-4W
Mr. Bowis

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the explosives find in Northcote rise, Battersea, on 21 December;

(2) if he will make a statement on the shooting incident in Chatham road, Battersea, on 21 December.

Mr. Hurd

At approximately 11.30 pm on Tuesday 20 December 1988 an 18-year-old man attempted to break into a Renault motor car which was parked in Northcote road, Battersea. He broke the window of the car having disturbed a man sleeping in the rear seat who then shot him in the stomach. The assailant ran off in the direction of nearby Staplehurst court. The police were called to the scene and the man was taken by ambulance to St. George's hospital, Tooting, was treated for his injuries and has since been discharged. Police inquiries established that the assailant had entered a ground floor flat in Staplehurst court but when armed officers later entered the flat they found the premises empty. It was immediately evident that the flat was being used as a bomb-making factory. An initial search revealed a considerable quantity of the explosive Semtex, other bomb-making equipment, and a number of weapons and ammunition.

crime figures for Derbyshire by the differing categories of crime; and what are the comparable figures for the previous quarter over the past five years.

Mr. John Patten

The information requested is given in the following table.

Police inquiries revealed that two men had been living in the flat and that they had escaped. The two men remain at large and the Metropolitan police are continuing their efforts to find them with the co-operation of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the An Garda Siochana. A man has been charged in connection with this investigation with conspiracy to cause explosions and withholding information about acts of terrorism.

The use of Semtex and the other equipment involved corresponds with previous finds of IRA explosives. There is no indication as yet of the means by which the explosives were brought into the country or their source.