Total: 38 (last updated 23/4/19) Note: This is not an official record and may differ from any lists compiled by police etc. Some cases (e.g. suspicious/unexplained deaths) will be listed separately until they are confirmed as homicides. Charlotte Huggins, 33, was stabbed to death in Camberwell on 1 January. Her partner Michael Rolle was charged […]
Category Archives: Statistics
Cuts to the ‘Murder Squad’
The Metropolitan Police unit responsible for investigating murders* in London was cut by nearly 40 per cent between 2004 and 2017 (see table below). Figures obtained via a Freedom of Information request show the Homicide and Serious Crime Command (HSCC) reduced in total strength almost every year over that period. The sharpest fall was from […]
Police refuse to release list of murder victims
The Metropolitan Police is now refusing to release full lists of murder victims under the Freedom of Information Act – making it more difficult to check their figures. Previously requests along these lines have been successful, such as the data featured in the Guardian article ‘Five years of London murders listed‘ and on our blog The Met’s Five […]
Is the murder rate rising again?
An article in The Times newspaper last week (Three deaths in a weekend sends murder rate soaring) highlighted the increase in London homicides so far this year. In January and February 2015 we counted 26 homicides compared to 12 across January and February 2015. So does this suggest a new trend or is it just an unusual […]
The Fall in Violent Crime and Murder
The release of the ‘UK Peace Index‘ (pdf link) has again highlighted the decline in violent crime (including murder) since 2003. “This is the fastest decline in violence of any country in Europe,” the report concludes. It notes that the homicide rate (murder, manslaughter and infanticide) has halved over the last ten years to 1 […]
How safe is London?
We were recently sent an email by a worried student asking about the likelihood of being murdered in London. This is perhaps not surprising given the prominence given to reports of teenagers being stabbed to death or shot. As we’ve repeatedly demonstrated, the number of homicide cases (both murder and manslaughter) has been going down […]
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence is said to account for 40 per cent of all female homicide victims in England and Wales. The other frequently reported statistic is that two women are killed by a male partner or ex-partner every week (from the Home Office analysis carried out in relation to the financial year 2003/4). But how does […]
Homicide in England and Wales 1898 to 2012
The latest crime figures for England and Wales confirm the drop in the murder rate is continuing. In the financial year 2011/12 there were 550 homicides initially recorded by police, compared to 638 in 2010/11. (Homicide being murder, manslaughter and infanticide) Now put that into context with a look at the last 50 years, which […]
Sanction Detection Rates
The ‘murder rate’ is one way of measuring the effectiveness of the justice system. Another is the percentage of homicides that are ‘cleared up’ – otherwise known as the Sanction Detection Rate. This means cases where a suspect has been identified but not necessarily convicted of the crime, perhaps because they have been acquitted on […]
Playing Politics with Murder
The London ‘murder rate’ has become something of a political football as the Mayoral election draws near. Last year the Evening Standard reported that the number of murders in the capital had fallen to a level not seen since 1978. On Saturday the Times reported that it had continued to fall to a level not […]