§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will provide a table showing the number of cases dealt with by(a) magistrates courts (b) trial by jury and (c) judges sitting alone under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Acts in each year since 1983; and how many and what percentage in each category were recorded as (i) guilty pleas, (ii) convictions after not guilty plea and (iii) acquittal.
§ Sir John Wheeler[holding answer 29 March 19941: The following tables provide, for each available year, information on the number of defendants dealt with (a) by magistrates' courts, and (b) by the Crown court. Information is provided on the numbers and percentages of guilty pleas recorded, convictions following not guilty pleas and acquittals. The 1993 figures are not yet available for publication.
Crown court figures have been divided into scheduled and non-scheduled business according to schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1991.
Subject to the approval of the Director of Public Prosecutions, some scheduled offences can be tried at magistrates' courts. These tend to be of a less serious nature and are included within the figures for all offences dealt with at magistrates' courts. They could be identified separately only at disproportionate cost.
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Table 3 Crown Court: Non-scheduled offences 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 Findings (indictable and summary) 1,231 1,121 1,333 1,263 1,210 971 911 952 919 891 Guilty pleas 1,055 926 1,090 1,101 1,056 783 767 716 717 673 Percentage 86 83 82 87 87 81 84 75 78 76 Conviction after not guilty plea 84 99 115 78 79 97 53 100 104 108 Percentage 7 9 9 6 7 10 6 11 11 12 Acquittals 92 96 128 84 75 91 91 126 98 110 Percentage 7 9 10 7 6 9 10 14 11 12 Notes:
1. Some scheduled offences may be heard at the Magistrates' courts and do not appear in Table 2.
2. Cases tried before jury and tried before judges sitting alone equate to non-scheduled and scheduled cases heard in the Crown court respectively.
3. Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding.