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Mr. Peter Bottomley
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the names, length of sentence served, and number of appeals of each person whose murder conviction was overturned or who was given a free pardon or life sentence remission from 1976. [31730]
Mr. Maclean
The available information is for those originally sentenced to life for murder and where sentences were subsequently reduced, or lifted on appeal or who were given a free pardon or remission whilst serving their sentences in prison service establishments in England and Wales.To protect individual privacy, a list of names is not provided but the numbers and average time served under a life sentence are tabulated. Information on the number of appeals of each person is not available.
| Successful appeals and free pardons/remissions from life sentences for murder. Prison Service establishments England and Wales 1976–1994 | ||||
| Successful appeal | Free pardon/remission | |||
| Year | Number | Time served1 (years) | Number | Time served1 (years) |
| 1976 | 2 | 0.8 | — | — |
| 1977 | 4 | 0.7 | — | — |
| 1978 | 8 | 1.1 | — | — |
| 1979 | 4 | 2.1 | 1 | 0.8 |
| 1980 | 5 | 4.9 | — | — |
| 1981 | 3 | 1.5 | — | — |
| 1982 | 4 | 1.3 | 1 | 0.6 |
| 1983 | — | — | 1 | 6.1 |
| 1984 | 6 | 3.7 | 1 | 0.9 |
| 1985 | 9 | 1.8 | 1 | 0.7 |
| 1986 | 9 | 1.0 | — | — |
| 1987 | 6 | 1.2 | — | — |
| 1988 | 4 | 1.1 | — | — |
| 1989 | 15 | 4.6 | — | — |
| 1990 | 7 | 1.3 | — | — |
| 1991 | 12 | 9.1 | — | — |
| 1992 | 16 | 4.1 | — | — |
| 1993 | 10 | 2.0 | — | — |
| 19942 | 13 | 4.3 | — | — |
| 1 Average time served under life sentence, excluding any time spent on remand and any time spent to complete a reduced custodial sentence. | ||||
| 2 Provisional. | ||||