There were 114 homicides in London in 2011 compared to 122 the previous year, according to our own list of cases. This continues the downward trend since 2003.
The good news continues when we break down the cases by weapon. What had started to look like an increase in fatal shootings went into reverse while fatal stabbings showed a slight increase.
Fewer teenagers were killed in 2011 than in the previous year (reduced from 19 to 15). This continues the progress made since the peak of 2007/8 and the headline cases of Ben Kinsella and Rob Knox. Clearly the next group to target is the 20-29 year olds.
The percentage of female victims also reduced slightly from 25 to 23 per cent from 2010. Here is an unnecessary pie chart.
The low total for 2011 had not looked possible in the first two months of the year with 13 homicides in January and 15 in February. The only other significant spike was in August, which was the month of the riots.
Finally here are the figures broken down by borough for the last four years. Newham and Hackney had ‘good’ years while only Lambeth broke into double figures.
| Borough | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| Barking and Dagenham | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Barnet | 3 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| Bexley | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Brent | 11 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| Bromley | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| Camden | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| City of London | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| City of Westminster | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Croydon | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| Ealing | 5 | 4 | 4 | 7 |
| Enfield | 9 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| Greenwich | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| Hackney | 5 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Haringey | 4 | 9 | 3 | 8 |
| Harrow | 1 | 5 | 3 | 0 |
| Havering | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Hillingdon | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Hounslow | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Islington | 7 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kingston | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Lambeth | 13 | 7 | 8 | 11 |
| Lewisham | 5 | 7 | 8 | 6 |
| Merton | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Newham | 6 | 7 | 15 | 3 |
| Redbridge | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Richmond | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Southwark | 12 | 8 | 6 | 7 |
| Sutton | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Tower Hamlets | 6 | 8 | 5 | 9 |
| Waltham Forest | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| Wandsworth | 4 | 6 | 2 | 3 |
| Total | 134 | 130 | 122 | 114 |
Note: The Metropolitan Police’s rolling 12 month tables give figures of 124 homicides for 2010 and 117 for 2011.