§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been convicted for perverting the course of justice and given a custodial sentence in each year since 1987; and what was the average length of sentence. [21104]
§ Mr. MichaelThe information is given in the table.
Number of offenders convicted of offences of perverting the course of justice1 by result, 1987 to 1996 England and Wales Year Total convictions Total given a custodial sentence Average sentence length (months) 1987 337 164 10.2 1988 494 236 10.3 1989 555 221 10.0 1990 678 256 8.0 1991 704 280 7.8 1992 816 306 9.1 1993 842 372 8.0 1994 1,132 511 7.7 1995 1,464 744 6.5 1996 1,775 835 7.0 1 The common law offence of perverting, or attempting to pervert the course of justice and, as from 1995, Section 51(1)—"Intimidating a juror or witness or person assisting in investigation of offence", and Section 51 (2)—"Harming or threatening to harm a witness, juror or person assisting in investigation" of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.