$dbh->begin_work;

foreach (@$bp_aref) {
$bind_parms = $_;
my $ra = $sth->execute(@$bind_parms);  # $ra is zero

# records are still in the db
# I need to keep a count of how many rows are going to be deleted, for each delete statement

$count[$i] += $sth->rows;   # returns zero 
}

$dbh->commit unless $skip_trans;

# now records are not in db