Northern Ireland written question – answered at on 27 April 2009.
Robert Walter
Conservative, North Dorset
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many prisoners serving sentences for each category of offence have been released on licence under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998; and how many such prisoners were classified as belonging to a ( a) loyalist and (b) republican organisation.
Paul Goggins
Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office
452 persons have been released on licence under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998. Of these 242 were affiliated to republican organisations, 197 to loyalist organisations and 13 had no recorded affiliation. The numbers of those released by the main category of offence for which they were convicted are shown in the following table.
| Affiliation | ||||
| Offence | Number | Republican | Loyalist | None |
| Life Sentence Prisoners | ||||
| Murder | 154 | 69 | 82 | 3 |
| Explosives offences | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 159 | 74 | 82 | 3 |
| Fixed Sentence Prisoners | ||||
| Attempted murder | 67 | 41 | 24 | 2 |
| Conspiracy to murder | 68 | 42 | 24 | 2 |
| Manslaughter | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Threats to kill | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Directing terrorism | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Explosives offences | 50 | 45 | 5 | 0 |
| Firearms and ammunition offences | 48 | 25 | 23 | 0 |
| Robbery/burglary offences | 24 | 3 | 16 | 5 |
| Kidnapping offences | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Blackmail | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Hijacking | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Grievous bodily harm | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Conspiracy to commit arson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Assisting offenders | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Belonging to a proscribed organisation | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Conspiring with others to further criminal means | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Possession of materials for the purpose of terrorism | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 293 | 168 | 115 | 10 |
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Annotations
Richard Walker
Posted on 28 Apr 2009 3:21 pm (Report this annotation)
Some vital information not given is How much of their sentence did each of these early release prisoners serve? I would like to know for instance the actual time served by those convicted to a "life sentence" and over what period of time were these 452 persons released?