London records lowest homicide total in over a decade

Independent.co reports that London has recorded its lowest number of homicides in over a decade, with the Metropolitan Police confirming 97 deaths in 2025, an 11 per cent fall from 109 in 2024 and the lowest total since 2014 when 95 were registered. The Met said last year’s homicide rate per capita was the lowest on record, at 1.1 per 100,000 residents despite the capital’s expanding population, and noted this undercuts rates in New York (2.8), Berlin (3.2) and Paris (1.6) per 100,000.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley credited intensive policing measures, saying: “London’s record‑low homicide rate is the result of relentless work: arresting 1,000 more offenders each month, using innovative technology such as live facial recognition to solve more crime, and taking precise action against the most dangerous gangs, organised criminals, and predatory men who target women and children.” The Met said violence among young people has fallen, with the fewest victims aged under 25 this century and a 73% decrease in teenage victims since 2021, from 30 to eight in 2025, and the mayor’s violence reduction unit, set up in 2019, is believed to have delivered 550,000 interventions to stop young people being drawn into gangs.

Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said: “Many people have been trying to talk London down, but the evidence tells a very different story.

Key Topics

World, London, Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, Sadiq Khan, Live Facial Recognition