§ Mr. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons convicted of attempted murder left prison in each of the last five years; and what was the average length of detention in each year.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Andrew F. Bennett, dated 10 May 1993:
PERSONS CONVICTED OF ATTEMPTED MURDER AND DISCHARGED WITHIN THE LAST FIVE YEARS
The Home Secretary has asked me to write to you directly in reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of persons convicted of attempted murder who have been discharged from prison in each of the last five years. I am sorry to tell you that the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. This is because in prison statistics prior to February 1991 attempted murder was recorded within the "other homicide" offence classification and not recorded separately. As a result, it would involve checking a large number of cases with prison service establishments.The readily available information relates to the length of sentence imposed and is published annually in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales", Supplementary tables volume 2 (tables S2.7 of the issue for 1991, Cm 2134), copies of which are held in the Library. A copy of the relevant page from the 1991 publication is attached.
§ Mr. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the average recommended minimum length of sentence to be served in cases of attempted murder in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. JackOn the assumption that the question relates to the punitive element—now known as the relevant part—of a discretionary life sentence imposed for attempted murder, the information is as follows:
470W
Year Number of cases Actual or average punitive element (years) 1979 1 15 1980 2 7.5 1981 4 12.9 1982 1 6 1983 1 10 1984 5 9.7 1985 1 10 1986 2 9.5 1987 4 13
Year Number of cases Actual or average punitive element (years) 1988 1 7 1989 2 8 1990 3 7.3 1991 3 8 1992 4 7.5
§ Mr. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals are currently serving sentences for attempted murder in United Kingdom prisons; and what is their average length of sentence.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Andrew F. Bennett, dated 10 May 1993:
FOREIGN CITIZENS SERVING SENTENCES FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER
The Home Secretary has asked me to write to you directly in reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of foreign citizens currently serving sentences for attempted murder. The latest available provisional figures are for 28 February 1993. They show 23 foreign nationals serving sentences for attempted murder in prison service establishments in England and Wales. Of these 5 were serving life sentences. The lengths of sentence of those serving determinate sentences varied from 5 years up to 30 years; their average sentence was about 12.4 years.