Crown Prosecution Service decide not to charge anyone over death of 53-year-old man at a pub in Harrow On the evening of 30 May 2019, Graham Howe was enjoying a drink at The Fleadh pub in Preston Road, Harrow. There had been no arguments or trouble on any kind that…
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On 26 September 2017 the emergency services were called to a flat in Oaks Lane, Ilford. Paramedics arrived to find a 59-year-old man, Gary Fairfax, had apparently taken an overdose of heroin. His death was one of 1,164 due to heroin and morphine in England and Wales that year. Like…
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Three City of London Police officers were shot dead and two were injured after responding to reports of a break-in on the night of 16 December, 1910. When they arrived at the rear of H.S. Harris’ jeweller’s shop at 119 Houndsditch in central London they had no idea they were…
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Earlier this year the Metropolitan Police released figures showing there were a total of 393 murders between 1997 and 2018 which remained unsolved (or using their definition, ‘undetected’).
The number of undetected murders peaked in around 2001 before decreasing to single figures between 2011 and 2015, then increasing again to a new peak in 2018. The percentage of total cases that remain undetected also varies by year. If we compare undetected murders to the available yearly figures for total homicides (including manslaughter), the undetected cases vary from between 4% (2014) and 25% (2018). See end of post for sources of figures.
However, it is important to note that the figures for the most recent years should be treated with caution because many murder cases take months or years to be ‘detected’. Older years are therefore more stable, whereas more recent years could be expected to drop significantly in future.
The police also gave some interesting details about the investigative process in relation to unsolved cases, which it insists are ‘never closed’:
Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Woods, the head of the Homicide and Major Crime Command, explains: “There is a huge amount of work taking place on unsolved murders.
“There are between 15-20 cases subject to a full cold case review at any one time.
“Behind every unsolved murder there is a family looking for answers. We are committed to doing all we can to solve these cases.
“Through 24-month reviews we look to see if anything new has emerged, whether it be information, forensic evidence, or changed allegiances. If new information or evidence comes to light, we will assess this and progress any viable lines of inquiry.”
Sources:
The police FOI giving figures for undetected murders dates back to 12/02/2019.
The government’s historical data for crimes recorded by each force (back to 1990) refers only to homicide (not murder). The most recent statistics are published by the ONS.
In 1864 Thomas Briggs, a 69 year-old banker, became the first person to be murdered on the railway in Britain. The case was an instant sensation in the press and played into fears about the speed of change taking place across the country in the Victorian era. It began as…
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