Justice minister can't give number of suspended sentence reoffenders

Justice Minister Jayne Poole-Wilson says she can't say how many criminals given suspended sentences reoffend and are spared a jail term again.

Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse asked a question for written reply about numbers over the last five years.

In her response, Mrs Poole-Wilson said the courts computer system can't separate out the sentencing information asked for and the Prison and Probation Service would have to manually review records on a number of different systems.

She added it hadn't been possible to do the far-reaching work in time to answer to question.