HC Deb 23 January 2001 vol 361 cc541-2W
Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many murders were committed in East Sussex(a) in each of the last 25 years and (b) in each month of the last year for which figures are available. [146700]

Mr. Charles Clarke

The available information relates to currently recorded offences of homicide (murder, manslaughter and infanticide) in the Sussex police force area. Data from the homicide database are available from 1977.

The information from 1977 to 1999 and for financial year 1999–2000 is shown in the table.

Year Currently recorded homicides
1977 8
1978 16
1979 9
1980 8
1981 12
1982 10
1983 8
1984 16
1985 17
1986 14
1987 10
1988 10
1989 16
1990 16
1991 18
1992 16
1993 10
1994 15
1995 7
1996 16
1997 13
1998 25
1999 15
1999–2000 17

The currently recorded figure includes all homicides because when an offence is recorded by the police, it is not generally known whether an offence of murder, manslaughter or infanticide has been committed.

The monthly data cover the period April 1999 to March 2000 for the Sussex police force area and are shown in the table.

Month recorded by the police Currently recorded homicides
April 1999 1
May 1999 0
June 1999 0
July 1999 2
August 1999 3
September 1999 3
October 1999 0
November 1999 1
December 1999 3
January 2000 0
February 2000 2
March 2000 2