§ Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been(a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for offences under the Mobile Telephones (Re-programming) Act 2002; and what penalties were imposed on those convicted. [121960]
§ Ms BlearsThe information requested is not available through our formal statistical channels. Court proceedings for offences under the Mobile Telephone (Re-programming) Act 2002 only became identifiable in the statistics collected centrally in January 2003. Statistics for 2003 will be published in the autumn of 2004.
The Home Office and police forces have been monitoring offences under the Act, and know of three prosecutions and convictions under the Act to date. The sentences in these three cases were a conditional discharge, a community punishment order and a fine, and a conditional discharge and a fine.