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Prisoners Release

Volume 491: debated on Monday 27 April 2009

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. (269300)

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