HL Deb 13 July 1995 vol 565 cc119-22WA
Lord Marlesford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many Category A prisoners have escaped from custody in each of the last six years and whether they will publish in the Official Report a table showing the date of each escape, the location of the prison or vehicle from which the escape was made, the name of the prisoner, the offence for which the prisoner was in custody, the date the

Date of escape Establishment or location No of category A prisoners in incident Offence Recapture date Inquiry type
7/7/89 HMP Hull 1 Armed robbery 12/7/89 Internal (Prison Service)
26/3/90 HMP Leicester 11 Robbery, wounding, poss of firearm 27/3/90 Internal (Prison Service)
17/7/90 En route HMP Bristol 11 2 Remanded on murder charge 31/7/90 Internal (Police)
7/7/91 HMP Brixton 21 Remanded on terrorist related charges In custody in Republic of Ireland External (Hadfield & Lakes)
Remanded on terrorist related charges In custody in Republic of Ireland External (Judge Tumim)
22/10/91 HMP Parkhurst 1 Robbery, poss of firearms with intent to kill and endanger life 3/1/92 Internal (Prison Service)
31/12/91 Outside hospital (Ex HMP Wakefield) 1 Rape/burglary x3 31/12/91 Internal (Prison Service)
1/4/92 HMP Frankland 1 Armed robbery 4/8/92 Internal (Prison Service)
8/12/92 En route to Maidstone Crown Court 11 2 Remanded on manslaughter charge 8/12/92 Internal (Police)
17/2/93 Cells Manchester Crown Court 1 Murder 6/3/93 Internal (Prison Service)
9/9/94 HMP Whitemoor 6 Murder and attempted murder 9/9/94 External (Sir John Woodcock)
Conspiracy to cause explosions 9/9/94
Conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life 9/9/94
Assisting an escape and conspiracy to armed robbery 9/9/94

prisoner was recaptured and the type of inquiry held into the escape and whether the results of the inquiry were in each case reported to the Home Secretary; and

Whether, in view of public concern when a Category A prisoner escapes from custody, they will in future arrange for the results of the inquiry into the causes and circumstances of the escape to be made public.

Baroness Blatch

The attached table provides details of each escape incident. It does not include the names of individual prisoners as it has not been the practice to name prisoners in these circumstances and in some cases charges have yet to be resolved.

The Home Secretary has received the reports on all the completed external inquiries and, in recent years, has received the results of all internal inquiries.

External inquiries into escapes are normally published subject to security considerations. However, internal inquiries are not published, as evidence is collected on the basis that they will not be published and the procedures necessary for publication are not adopted.

Date of escape Establishment or location No of category A prisoners in incident Offence Recapture date Inquiry type
Conspiracy to cause explosions 9/9/94
Conspiracy to cause explosions and possession of firearms and explosives 9/9/94
3/1/95 HMP Parkhurst 2 Murder 8/1/95 External (Sir John Learnmont)
Conspiracy to cause explosions and possess an explosive substance etc 8/1/95
5/4/95 West Hendon Magistrates Court 11 Remanded on charge of attempted murder At large Internal (Prison Service)
5/6/95 En route to Central Criminal Court (ex HMP Belmarsh) 21 On trial for possession of firearm with intent to kidnap 5/6/95 Internal (Prison Service)
On trial for possession of firearm with intent to kidnap At large
1 Provisional category A (unconvicted and sentenced).
2 These category A prisoners were in police custody at the time they escaped.