§ Mr. CanavanTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he will specify cases, including dates, of people who have been awarded compensation by Her Majesty's Government as a result of maltreatment by the RUC at Castlereagh interrogation centre.
§ Sir Patrick MayhewThe information is not available in the form requested. However, I have today placed in the Library of the House copies of a statistical analysis, prepared by the Police Authority for Northern Ireland, of claims for compensation concluded during the financial years 1989–90, 1990–91 and 1991–92 arising from allegations relating to detention in holding centres.
The Police Authority paper shows that during this three year period 200 such claims were finalised. Most of the alleged incidents giving rise to these claims occurred during the period 1985–89, though some go back to the late 1970s. In 127 of the 200 cases assault was alleged.
Compensation was paid in 123 cases (62 per cent.). In only 27 of these, however, was alleged assault one of the grounds on which payment was made; payments in the remaining cases related to allegations of wrongful arrest, false imprisonment (including overholding), loss of property or other causes.
Of the 27 cases where payments were made on the basis of alleged assault, nine arose from incidents outside the holding centres themselves, including five from a single incident involving the use of plastic handcuffs. In only 18 cases, therefore, were damages paid where alleged assault inside a holding centre was a factor. These cases were, of course, dealt with on the civil burden of proof, assessed on the balance of probabilities, rather than the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt.
The total payment in cases in which alleged assault was found to be a factor was £69,900; the total payment in all others cases was 136,474.
The Government welcome the publication of this analysis, which confirms the impression of Lord Colville, recorded in his report of the operation in 1992 of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1991, that in only a small minority of cases arising from detention in the holding centres were damages paid on the basis of alleged assault. It also demonstrates how misleading has been much coverage of this issue, in the press and elsewhere.
It of course remains the firm position of both the Government and the RUC that any ill-treatment of persons in custody is wholly unacceptable. All complaints are investigated by the police, and the police investigation may be directly supervised by the Independent 294W Commission for Police Complaints. On completion of a supervised investigation a full report goes to the commission, which is required to issue a statement as to whether or not the investigation has been carried out satisfactorily. All completed files are in any event subject to ICPC scrutiny at the end of the investigation process. The paper may also be referred to the DPP. Any police officer acting improperly may face criminal or disciplinary proceedings.
The stringent safeguards already in place for those in detention have recently been reinforced by the appointment of an independent commissioner for the holding centres, and will shortly be strengthened still further by the introduction of codes of practice governing the detention, treatment, questioning and identification of terrorist suspects. The holding centres, and the police officers who work there, play a vital role in the struggle against terrorism. These measures are intended to enhance still further public confidence that the police have nothing to hide and that persons detained in holding centres are not being illtreated or denied their rights, and also to protect the officers themselves from malicious allegations.
§ Mr. CanavanTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he will introduce legislation to enforce the video recording of interviews by the RUC at interrogation centres.
§ Sir Patrick MayhewI am not persuaded of the desirability of introducing video recording of interviews with terrorist suspects. There is already a formidable array of safeguards to guarantee that the rights of those detained under the emergency legislation are fully respected. These include the recent appointment of Sir Louis Blom-Cooper as independent commissioner for the holding centres.