Mr. John D. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons were released from prison for Christmas parole; how many returned at the required date and time; and what was the maximum number of years of sentence for any such prisoners.
§ Sir John WheelerIn December 1993, a total number of 446 prisoners were released from prison for Christmas home leave; of these, 100 prisoners were serving indeterminate sentences. The number who returned at the required date and time was 436, including all the indeterminate sentence prisoners.
At 14 January, three prisoners were still unlawfully at large and their names have been passed to the security forces.
Mr. John D. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland why Neil Latimer was not released from prison for Christmas parole; how many years he has been sentenced to imprisonment; and how many of these years he has already served in prison.
§ Sir John WheelerNeil Latimer is serving a life sentence. He completed 10 years imprisonment in December 1993. To be eligible for consideration for Christmas home leave a prisoner was required to have served a minimum of 11 years in custody.