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Solicitor-General

Answer

Mr. Amess: To ask the Solicitor-General, how many unduly lenient sentences for crimes committed by serving police officers have been referred to the Court of Appeal in (a) England, (b) Essex and (c) Southend in each of the last five years; and how many appeals have been upheld in each of those years. [224921] The Solicitor-General: Records are kept by the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers on the cases referred to Law Officers by prosecution agencies and those brought to the attention of Law Officers by direct correspondence. Records kept in the present form commenced in 2002. Records are not organised by offenders' employment. Therefore, it is not possible to identify with certainty the number of references for the period when records commenced involving serving police officers. Some data has been obtained by searching for references which contain the words "serving police officer". The following data was obtained: 2002--One case referred to the Court of Appeal which concerned a retired Metropolitan police officer. The sentence was unchanged. 2003--One case referred to the Court of Appeal which concerned a Kent police officer. The sentence was increased. 2004--Two cases were received by the Law Officers which involved police officers. The first concerned a retired Yorkshire constabulary officer. This was referred to the Court of Appeal which concluded the sentence was not unduly lenient. The second concerned a retired Metropolitan police officer. This was not referred to the Court of Appeal. 2005--One case has been received by the Law Officers which involved two serving police officers from the Surrey Constabulary. It was not referred to the Court of Appeal.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

432 c1580W;432 c1576-7W; 224921

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Appeals Convictions Police Sentencing

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk