Speeches

Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) offence and (b) sentencing outcome of each terrorist-related offence dealt with in court was in the last five years.

Mike Penning

This Government takes terrorism offences extremely seriously, which is why there are tough sentences available to the courts. We are further strengthening the law in this area through the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, currently going through Parliament.

We are increasing the maximum sentence from 10 or 14 years to a life sentence for three specific terror offences – weapons training for terrorist purposes, other training for terrorism, and making or possession of explosives. We are also ending automatic early release for those convicted of a range of serious terror offences – including weapons training for terrorist purposes and directing a terrorist organisation – so that they will only be released before the end of their custodial term at the discretion of the independent Parole Board, who must be satisfied that they no longer pose a threat to society. We are also ensuring that terrorists convicted of a second very serious offence will face the ‘two-strikes’ automatic life’ sentence.

Data for terrorist related offences and sentence outcomes can be viewed in Tables C.01-C.04 at the below link:-

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/operation-of-police-powers-under-the-terrorism-act-2000-quarterly-update-to-june-2014-data-tables

Findings of guilt includes crimes which have a terrorist link.