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Written question asked by Lord Garnier (Conservative) on Wednesday, 10 September 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 17 September 2008. It was answered by Derek Twigg (Labour) on Monday, 29 September 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Offenders: Armed Forces

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) serving and (b) former armed forces personnel were (i) given custodial sentences following a plea or a finding of guilty and (ii) given a community penalty by civilian courts in England and Wales in each of last five years for which figures are available.
Answer

[holding answer 17 September 2008]: I have been asked to reply.The following table shows the number of serving personnel in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy (RN) who were given custodial sentences or community penalty by civilian courts in England and Wales.

Imprisonment Suspended imprisonment Community sentence In-year total
RN RAF RN RAF RN RAF RN RAF
2003 4 n/a 0 n/a 2 n/a 6 n/a
2004 7 n/a 0 n/a 10 n/a 17 n/a
2005 5 n/a 1 n/a 4 n/a 10 n/a
2006 0 2 2 2 2 24 4 28
2007 0 4 1 3 4 7 5 14
2008 (to 12 September 2008 0 6 0 3 3 6 3 15
n/a = Not available.
Note:
This information is based on offences captured either through the individual complying with their obligation to inform their chain of command or via notification by Home Office police.

Only the requested sentence type has been extracted for the aforementioned table. Therefore these figures do not include fines, conditional discharge, disqualification from driving etc.No records pertaining to the criminal activity of ex-RN or ex-RAF personnel is held.The Army does not hold centrally the information requested and could provide information on the number of serving personnel who were given custodial sentences or community penalty by civilian courts in England and Wales only at disproportionate cost. No records pertaining to the criminal activity of ex-Army personnel are held.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
224014; 479 c2406W
Session
2007-08
Subjects
Armed forces Offenders Veterans
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk