FEWER people were held by police in 1995 in connection with Northern terrorism than in any year since 1974, according to the third independent annual review of the workings of the Prevention of Terrorism Act in Britain.
The report shows that under the law, which came into effect 22 years ago, Mr John Rowe QC recorded just 15 detentions, one quarter the total of 1994. Ten were later charged with an offence, the report said.
Mr Rowe completed his findings just days before the end of the IRA ceasefire and the London Docklands bomb.
He recommended that the Act should stay in force for the following year.