§ Phil Sawford(1) To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of bigamy were dealt with in British courts in each of the past five years for which figures are available; and how many resulted in a conviction. [63858]
(2) how many people convicted of bigamy in British courts were sentenced to a term in prison in each of the past five years for which figures are available; and what was the average length of sentence. [63859]
§ Mr. Hilary BennThe information requested. relating to England and Wales for the years 1996 to 2000, is given in the table.
Statistics for 2001 will be available in the autumn.
Persons proceeded against, convicted, sentenced to imprisonment and average sentence length at all courts for offences of bigamy1, England and Wales 1996 to 2000 Year Proceeded against Convicted Total Sentenced to imprisonment Average sentence length (months) 1996 18 16 6 11.5 1997 22 16 4 4.7 1998 30 18 10 7.9 1999 40 28 14 5.6 20002 17 12 4 5.0 1These data are on the principal offence basis. 2Staffordshire Police were only able to supply a nine per cent. sample of data for magistrates' courts proceedings covering one full week in each quarter for 2000. Estimates based on this sample have been included in the figures in the table.