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Written question asked by Mark Hendrick (Labour) on Wednesday, 18 March 2015, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 20 March 2015. It was answered by Mike Penning (Conservative) on Wednesday, 25 March 2015 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Theft: North West

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted of theft in (a) Preston constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013 and (v) 2014.

Answer

Theft is a serious offence punishable on indictment by up to seven years’ imprisonment. Charges will be brought where there is a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest.

The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and offenders found guilty at all courts of theft offences by police force area in the North West region from 2010 to 2013 (the latest available) can be viewed in the table. The Court Proceedings data for calendar year 2014 are due for publication in May 2015. Data requested for Preston is not available at constituency level.

While the figures show that the annual number of convictions has fallen since 2010, the percentage of prosecutions which led to conviction in the North-West has increased during the life time of this Parliament - from 88% in 2010 to 91% in 2013.

Offenders found guilty at all courts of theft offences, by police force area, in the north west region, 2010 - 2013(1)(2)
Police force area 2010 2011 2012 2013
Cumbria 1,339 1,341 1,271 1,192
Lancashire 5,275 5,086 4,995 4,528
Merseyside 4,124 3,723 3,420 3,479
Greater Manchester 8,782 8,780 7,390 6,990
Cheshire 2,262 2,294 2,236 2,220
Total 21,782 21,224 19,312 18,409
(1) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
(2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.
Ref: PQC 228184

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
228184
Session
2014-15
Subjects
Convictions Theft North West
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk