In 2023/24 there were 262 homicides involving a knife or other sharp instrument in England and Wales, compared with 243 in the previous reporting year. During the provided time period, knife homicides have fluctuated from a low of 186 in 2014/15 to the high seen in the 2017/18 reporting year.

The number of knife or sharp instrument offences recorded by the police in London rose to approximately 16,344 in 2024/25, compared with 15,016 in the previous year. This was the highest number of knife crime offences reported in London during this provided time period. Between 2015/16 and 2019/20, knife crime in London increased yearly, with a particularly large increase occurring between 2016/16 and 2017/18. A wider trend The increase in knife crime witnessed in London has occurred alongside a general increase in overall crime throughout England and Wales. In 2022/23, there were approximately 6.74 million crime offences across England and Wales, compared with just over four million ten years earlier. During a similar time period, the number of knife homicides also increased, and reached 282 in 2017/18, compared with 186 in 2014/15. Due to strict gun laws in the United Kingdom, firearms are rarely used to commit homicides, with knives or other sharp instruments being used in over 46 percent of homicides in 2023/24. Acid and moped attacks While knife crime in London has certainly been given a lot of attention by the British media, the increase in acid and moped attacks during the same time period also generated many headlines. In 2017, for example, there were 471 acid attacks recorded by the Metropolitan Police, compared with just 51 in 2007. Moped crime also reached high levels in 2017, with both types of crime declining to much lower levels by the early 2020s. Although overall crime in London continued to rise until 2019/20, this fell back during the COVID-19 pandemic, but by 2023/24, the number of crimes committed in the capital had exceeded pre-pandemic levels.

In 2024/25, there were 104 homicide offences recorded in London, the most of any region of the United Kingdom during that time period. North West England, which includes the large cities of Manchester and Liverpool, had 69 homicides and had the second-highest number of homicides. In the same reporting period, the constituent countries of Wales and Northern Ireland reported the fewest homicides, at 23, and 13 respectively. Homicides in the UK falling despite recent uptick Since 2002/03, all three jurisdictions of the UK; England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, have seen their homicide rates fall, with Scotland seeing the steepest decline. The most significant decline in homicides in this period occurred between 2002/03 and 2014/15, which saw the annual number of homicides in England and Wales half from over 1,000 to around 500. This trend was suddenly reversed from 2015/16 onwards, with homicides rising to around 700 per year between 2016/17 and 2019/20. While homicides fell back to 535 in 2024/25, it remains to be seen if this pattern will continue. Knives used in almost half of all murders In 2024/25 a knife or other sharp instruments were used in approximately 46 percent of all murders in England and Wales, making this, by far, the most common method of killing in that reporting year. The overall number of knife homicides reached 262 in 2023/24, compared with 243 in the previous year. Firearm homicides were much rarer than knife homicides, with only 22 taking place in the same reporting year, and homicides caused by shooting only accounting for 3.9 percent of homicides overall.

United Kingdom UK: Intentional Homicides: per 100,000 People data was reported at 1.202 Ratio in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.992 Ratio for 2015. United Kingdom UK: Intentional Homicides: per 100,000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 1.399 Ratio from Dec 1995 (Median) to 2016, with 22 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.865 Ratio in 2002 and a record low of 0.907 Ratio in 2014. United Kingdom UK: Intentional Homicides: per 100,000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Intentional homicides are estimates of unlawful homicides purposely inflicted as a result of domestic disputes, interpersonal violence, violent conflicts over land resources, intergang violence over turf or control, and predatory violence and killing by armed groups. Intentional homicide does not include all intentional killing; the difference is usually in the organization of the killing. Individuals or small groups usually commit homicide, whereas killing in armed conflict is usually committed by fairly cohesive groups of up to several hundred members and is thus usually excluded.; ; UN Office on Drugs and Crime's International Homicide Statistics database.; Weighted average;

Knives or other sharp objects were involved in ** percent of homicides in England and Wales in 2023/24, the most of any method of killing. Homicides which involved hitting or kicking without a weapon made up **** percent of homicides, while shootings were identified as the method in *** percent of homicides. Overall, there were *** homicides in this reporting year, which was slightly lower than in the previous year, when there were ***, but noticeably higher than in 2014/15, when there were ***. Firearm homicides rare in England and Wales In 2023/24, there were *** knife homicides in England and Wales, compared with *** in 2021/22, which was the highest figure recently. By comparison, homicides which involved the use of a firearm were far less common, with just ** in the 2023/24 reporting year. Due to strict gun laws and low levels of ownership, the UK contrasts starkly with the United States, which has struggled with high levels of gun violence. Although some specialist police officers in England and Wales are licensed to carry firearms, the majority of police officers are unarmed. In 2023/24, for example, there were just ***** armed police, out of around ******* police officers. Overall knife crime on the rise Like many other types of crime, knife crime offences in the ***** started to decline at the start of the decade before creeping up again from 2014 onwards, reaching almost ****** in 2019/20. In London, where much of the media’s attention on knife crime is focused, there were ****** knife crime offences alone in 2019/20. Although this fell during subsequent reporting years, which were influenced by COVID-19 restrictions, it remains to be seen if the trend will continue. In 2023/24, the number of knife offences in the capital was higher than in any other year since 2019/20.

This dataset is about books. It has 3 rows and is filtered where the book subjects is Jack the Ripper Murders, London, England, 1888. It features 9 columns including author, publication date, language, and book publisher.

The Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP) aimed to reduce the carrying of knives, related homicides and serious stabbings among teenagers (aged 13-19) in ten police force areas.

This dataset is about books. It has 12 rows and is filtered where the book subjects is Serial murders-England-London. It features 9 columns including author, publication date, language, and book publisher.

Between 2021 and 2024, the homicide rate for people of the Black ethnic group was **** homicides per million population in England and Wales, far higher than that of the white ethnic group, which was *** victims per million population for the same time period.

This statistic shows the number of assaults involving a knife/blade in prisons in England and Wales from 2005 to 2018. The highest number of knife/blade assaults during this period was in 2017 with *** reported cases. This is significantly higher than the *** reported cases in 2005.

There were ******* violent crime offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police Forces in London in 2024/25, a decrease when compared with the previous reporting year. From a low of ******* violent crimes in 2015/16, violent crime has increased almost every year. This reflects a pattern of increasing violent crime replicated across England and Wales as a whole, with a peak of *** million offences reported in 2022/23. Overall offences also rising The overall crime figures for London also show a trend of increasing crime in the UK capital. In 2015/16 for example, there were ******* crimes recorded in London, compared to ******* in 2024/25. This follows a similar pattern seen in England and Wales, which has witnessed an uptick in crime after reaching historic lows in the mid-2010s. In 2013/14 for example, there were approximately ** crimes per 100,000 people in England and Wales, compared with *****in 2024/25. By contrast, in Scotland, and in Northern Ireland, crimes rates have remained broadly similar to the mid-2010s. Police budgets rising again Due to the austerity policies enacted by UK governments in the 2010s, the amount the UK government spent on the police was effectively frozen between 2013/14 and 2016/17. This policy has since been reversed, with the overall UK police budget reaching **** billion pounds in 2024/25, compared with 16.4 billion in 2016/17. The amount budgeted for the Metropolitan Police by the Mayor of London for 2025/26 was **** billion British pounds, a significant increase on the **** billion budgeted in 2018/19, but slightly lower than in 2024/25.

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Of the *** recorded homicides in England and Wales in 2023/24, *** of the victims were male, and *** victims were female. Although the majority of homicide victims are men, they are also responsible for far more homicides than females are, with the vast majority of homicide suspects being male in England and Wales.

In 2024/25, 7.3 percent of all crime offences resulted in a charge or summons in England and Wales. While this was an improvement when compared with the previous few years, it was far lower than in 2015, when 15.5 percent of crimes were solved.

In 2023/24 there were *** homicides that took place in England and Wales, with *** of these victims belonging to the white ethnic group. In this reporting year, ** homicide victims were Black, with a further ** belonging to other ethnic groups, and ** not known.

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In 2023/24, 22 homicide offences involved the use of a firearm in England and Wales, compared with 29 in the previous reporting year. Overall, there were 570 homicides in England and Wales in 2023/24, with 262 of these involving a knife or other sharp instrument.

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