§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will bring forward proposals for a new offence of aggravated perjury to apply where persons have brought an action in the courts and have lied on oath. [18532]
§ Mr. MichaelWe see no need to bring forward proposals for a new offence of aggravated perjury. The law enables those who have brought a civil action and are then found to have lied to be liable to prosecution and conviction for perjury, which could result in a prison sentence for up to seven years. In addition, a person who intentionally swears a false affidavit could be charged with perverting the course of justice. As I indicated in my reply to my hon. Friend on 16 July 1997,official report, column 181, the serious common law offence of perverting, or attempting to pervert, the course of justice is committed where a person acts or embarks upon a course of conduct which has a tendency to, and is intended to, pervert the course of justice. It is a matter for the prosecuting authorities to decide in any such case whether there is sufficient evidence to mount a 210W prosecution and whether it would be in the public interest. As a common law offence, the maximum penalty for perverting the course of justice is at large, which means that the court would be free to impose any penalty that they considered appropriate.