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Mr. Simon Coombs
To ask the Attorney-General whether he has anything to add to his answer of 19 December 1988, Official Report, column 92, to the hon. Member for Orpington (Mr. Stanbrook), on the result of the trial of Neill Joseph Patterson.
The Attorney-General
Yes. The three extraterritorial offences for which Patterson was prosecuted were not tried before a jury. The offences were charged as alternatives to offences allegedly committed in Northern Ireland. As Patterson was convicted of the offences allegedly committed in Northern Ireland the judge did not return a verdict on the extraterritorial offences and ordered them to lie on the file. The result of the trial should therefore read—"No verdict returned; left on file." I regret the inadvertent mistake in the answer.