To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many defendants remanded in custody pending trial in Northern Ireland have subsequently been acquitted or not found guilty in each of the last five years.

The custody or bail status of defendants may change during the period pending trial in the Crown court.

The information sought was not centrally recorded prior to the introduction of a new IT system in October 2006. Consequently, it is not possible to provide the requested information prior to this without incurring disproportionate cost.

The following table details, for Crown court cases dealt with in Northern Ireland between October 2006 and September 2007, the number of defendants who were found not guilty on all charges and who had been remanded in custody at some stage pending trial.