HC Deb 31 October 2001 vol 373 cc723-7W
Mr. Frank Field

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many homicides there were of a child aged under one, broken down by the relationship of the victim to the principal suspect; and how many people were(a) charged and (b) convicted of such offences in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [9882]

Mr. Denham

The requested details are in the table.

killed by their parents are collected centrally, but those where domestic violence is a factor cannot be separately identified.

The following tables show currently recorded homicides of children less than 16 years, killed by their parents, for each police force area. Data are provided from 1977 to 1997 on a calendar year basis and from 1997–98 to 1999–2000 on a financial year basis. Information is as at 11 September 2000 when recording was closed for publication purposes. The outcome may result in some offences being reclassified as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available.

Table 1: Offences currently recorded as homicide for children less than 16 years where the relationship of the victim to the principal suspect is that of son or daughter
Police force 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988
Durham 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Essex 0 1 6 1 2 0 2 1 2 2 2 3
Gloucestershire 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1
Greater Manchester 4 2 4 2 4 3 2 3 5 2 5 5
Hampshire 2 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 4 0 0 2
Hertfordshire 0 1 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
Humberside 2 1 2 1 3 2 0 2 1 0 0 1
Kent 1 2 1 0 1 0 4 2 1 1 4 0
Lancashire 4 2 2 2 0 5 1 1 1 1 2 5
Leicestershire 1 1 1 0 0 3 1 0 1 0 0 1
Lincolnshire 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1
London City of 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Merseyside 1 2 2 2 2 3 1 1 0 0 0 4
Metropolitan Police 8 6 13 10 7 9 6 7 18 4 16 8
Norfolk 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 1
Northamptonshire 0 1 1 1 1 2 3 3 0 0 1 0
Northumbria 0 0 1 1 2 0 3 3 4 0 2 1
North Yorkshire 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0
Nottinghamshire 2 1 0 2 4 0 1 0 1 3 2 4
South Yorkshire 0 3 1 0 0 0 2 3 1 1 1 0
Staffordshire 4 1 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 2 0 2
Suffolk 2 1 1 0 0 0 3 2 1 0 0 1
Surrey 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 2
Sussex 2 2 2 0 3 3 1 0 1 1 1 0
Thames Valley 0 4 1 0 1 3 0 8 3 1 1 5
Warwickshire 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 2 0 0 0
West Mercia 1 0 0 0 1 3 2 0 2 1 1 1
West Midlands 5 4 5 2 2 3 6 5 5 4 2 8
West Yorkshire 2 3 5 5 3 3 2 5 4 3 4 5
Wiltshire 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0
Dyfed-Powys 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
Gwent 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
North Wales 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
South Wales 2 2 0 0 2 0 2 1 2 0 1 2
Total 55 63 64 40 54 58 53 62 72 36 55 76

Table 2
Police force 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1997–98 1998–1999 1999–2000
Avon and Somerset 0 0 2 1 1 0 4 3 3 3 0 0
Bedfordshire 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 3
Cambridgeshire 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1
Cheshire 0 0 3 2 3 0 4 0 0 0 5 0
Cleveland 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0
Cumbria 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1
Derbyshire 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 2 2 0 1
Devon and Cornwall 0 4 1 0 0 2 0 1 2 0 1 0
Dorset 0 1 0 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0
Durham 1 0 1 1 2 3 1 0 1 1 0 0
Essex 0 4 0 0 1 1 1 3 1 0 3 0
Gloucestershire 1 0 2 1 3 1 0 0 0 1 2 0
Greater Manchester 5 2 3 4 2 3 3 6 1 1 6 3
Hampshire 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 3 1 1 1 0
Hertfordshire 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
Humberside 1 1 0 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 2 0
Kent 1 1 4 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 2
Lancashire 3 0 1 2 2 2 0 4 3 2 1 3
Leicestershire 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0
Lincolnshire 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 0
London City of 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Merseyside 0 2 2 0 1 1 0 2 2 2 2 0
Metropolitan Police 6 6 8 3 8 4 8 7 8 10 7 4
Norfolk 2 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 1 1 3 0
Northamptonshire 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Northumbria 1 0 2 3 2 1 1 2 1 1 0 3
North Yorkshire 1 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 1

Table 2
Police force 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1997–98 1998–1999 1999–2000
Nottinghamshire 2 1 5 5 2 7 0 0 2 1 0 3
South Yorkshire 1 1 3 1 1 4 5 1 0 0 0 0
Staffordshire 1 2 1 0 1 1 3 1 1 2 5 0
Suffolk 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 1
Surrey 2 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sussex 2 5 0 3 1 1 0 1 2 3 1 2
Thames Valley 1 2 2 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 2 3
Warwickshire 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
West Mercia 1 1 2 3 3 1 0 0 1 0 2 3
West Midlands 4 5 2 3 2 4 3 7 1 1 4 9
West Yorkshire 0 2 1 1 3 3 4 0 3 2 2 2
Wiltshire 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 1
Dyfed-Powys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Gwent 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
North Wales 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
South Wales 2 0 7 1 0 0 2 1 3 3 0 4
Total 44 49 63 51 49 53 52 58 50 45 59 53