§ Dame Jill KnightTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Government intend to respond to the report of the Home Affairs Select Committee on the year and a day rule in homicide. [36344]
§ Mr. HowardWe have today published our response to the report of the Home Affairs Select Committee. Copies of the response are available in the Vote Office.
We agree with the Committee that the year and a day rule should be abolished. This will entail difficult decisions for prosecutors in some cases, and we have decided that the consent of the Attorney-General should be required for a homicide prosecution where either the defendant has previously been convicted of another offence for the injury which resulted in death, or there has been an interval of three years or more between the injury and death.