Terrorist Prisoners (Hansard, 20 February 1996)

§ Miss Widdecombe

[holding answer 14 February 1996]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. Tony Worthington, dated 20 February 1996: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Questions about the number of prisoners convicted of crimes relating to Northern Irish terrorism in prison in Britain; the length of sentence of each of the prisoners; how many years of their sentence each has already served; and the number currently held in Special Security Units in Britain. There are currently 24 prisoners serving sentences in prison in England and Wales for such offences, five of whom are held in a Special Security Unit. The attached table shows the date and length of sentence of these prisoners. Precise information about length of sentence served, the calculation of which needs to take account of time spent on remand, is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Date of sentence	Length of sentence
11 May 1976	Life
10 February 1977	Life
10 February 1977	Life
10 February 1977	Life
10 February 1977	Life
10 February 1977	Life
23 June 1986	Life
14 April 1987	16 years
27 October 1987	25 years
16 February 1988	Life
20 June 1988	17 years
8 June 1990	30 years
6 December 1990	30 years
30 March 1993	Life
30 March 1993	18 years
19 July 1993	17 years
10 February 1994	16 years
10 February 1994	25 years
10 February 1994	35 years
13 May 1994	30 years
13 May 1994	30 years
22 August 1994	25 years
21 October 1994	25 years
20 January 1995	20 years

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