Number of homicides in London climbs to 10-year high

The number of homicides in London has hit a 10-year high and there has been a surge in knife and gang-related killings since 2014, figures show.

According to Press TV, the Metropolitan police recorded 149 homicides in 2019 up to 30 December. In five years the homicide rate has increased by more than 50%, from 94 cases in 2014.

Despite the introduction of a raft of measures to tackle the problem, the 2019 total was up 10% on the 135 homicides recorded in 2018, and the rise was concentrated in the poorest areas.

Figures for the rest of the country are not yet available but the second biggest force, West Midlands police, reported a fall from 51 murders in 2018 to 39 in 2019. Of those 39, 19 were stabbings and three were shootings.

Greater Manchester police, the third biggest force in England and Wales, said it could not provide homicide statistics.

Figures from the Mayor of London’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) reveal longer-term trends in the capital. Shooting deaths in London totaled four in 2014, rose to 15 in 2018 and fell back to 12 in 2019.

Fatal stabbings numbered 55 in 2014 and have gone steadily up, reaching 90 in 2019, according to Met figures.

Thirty-nine people aged under 25 were killed in 2014, 66 in 2017 and 46 last year.

Killings linked to gang violence have more than doubled in the last five years, from 17 in 2014 to 44 in 2018 and 42 in 2019.

ME