EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2025, Greater London witnessed a decline in homicides, recording 97 homicides, reaching its lowest rate in 10 years, and a 13% drop from 2024. Despite this overall decrease, this report unveils concerning trends; there has been an alarming spike in female victims, rising by more than 20% from 2024 to 2025, with 2024 recording 24 female homicides and 2025 recording 29 female homicides. 79% of these female homicides were as a result of domestic violence. Domestic abuse homicides (including both male and female victims) have risen from 18 cases in 2024 to 29 cases in 2025, marking a 61% increase in domestic violence related homicides in a single year. 79% of these domestic violence homicide victims were women.
White homicide victims have also seen an increase in 2025, with Black and White victims being equivalently high, each accounting for 41% of homicides. However, the homicide victims who were White were disproportionately elderly (65 plus), whilst Black victims tended to be aged 25-34. Elderly homicides have risen by 25% from 2024 to 2025 and 21% of overall London homicide victims were 65 and over. 85% of these elderly victims were White. The majority of these elderly homicides were connected with robberies, opportunistic attacks or abuse by carers. These offenders were largely of no fixed address.
Stabbing has continued to be the most prominent method of killing with a knife being recorded as a weapon in 48% of cases. However, this has significantly reduced from 2024 where a knife was recorded as a weapon in homicide in 57% of cases. Physical assault has been found to be on the rise with 26% of homicides involving this method. Last year physical assault accounted for 16% of homicides.
Men were most commonly victims (70%) and offenders (95%). The average age of offenders has dropped from 39 to 31, with 18 cases involving teenage offenders, with the youngest reported offender aged 14. Out of the teenage victims, 100% were Black. Homicide hotspots have changed from 2024, where the most affected London boroughs included the City of Westminster and East London Boroughs. Contrastingly, in 2025, the highest number of homicides were concentrated in Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth, and Croydon. Based on these trends, this report calls for prevention strategies with an emphasis on tackling domestic abuse, protecting elderly victims and investing additional resources into reducing opportunistic crime and carer abuse, which may partly be increasing due to rising cost of living pressures and a rise in homelessness.
INTRODUCTION
With homicides in London falling to their lowest level in eleven years in 2025, the Met Police claim this record low rate is the result of an intensive crackdown on violent crime, including mass offender arrests, cutting edge technologies like live facial recognition, and a joint enforcement and prevention strategy with the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit[1]. However, despite these successful interventions, numerous alarming trends continue to emerge.
Underage offenders (under 18) continues to be an alarming trend with AOAV finding at least fourteen cases involving underage offenders, with teenage offenders nearly tripling from 2024[2]. Notable cases involving underage offenders and victims in 2025 included the case of Kelyan Bokassa, a 14 year old boy who was stabbed 27 times on a bus by two teenagers. DCI Sarah Lee described the homicide as a ‘callous’ and ‘ferocious’ attack carried out in broad daylight, emphasising that violence continues to disproportionately affect young Black boys and those facing deepening social and economic inequalities. [3]
Our research also found more women killed in 2025, with female homicides rising by over 20% from 2024, and 79% of these cases linked to domestic abuse, which itself increased by 61% in a single year. According to the Metropolitan Police (MPS), 23 women lost their lives in domestic abuse related incidents in 2025, marking a rise from 14 cases in 2024 and 12 cases in 2023.[4] In fact, domestic abuse related female homicides have reached their highest level in eleven years. (These figures refer specifically to female victims). The total number of domestic abuse homicides (including male victims) rose from 18 to 29 over the same period.
This report examines in detail the method of killing, race, gender and age of both victims and offenders, alongside geographic patterns, highlighting significant shifts in trends, particularly the sharp rise in domestic abuse related female homicides, the growing vulnerability of elderly victims, and the changing age profile of offenders.
METHODOLOGY
The 2025 London homicide data and analysis was compiled using the Metropolitan Police homicide dashboard, mapping websites such as the Murder Map, and news articles and legal records were used where there were gaps in the data. The aim of this report is to provide an overview of the data, trends and patterns in the 97 homicides reported by the Metropolitan Police in 2025. The report includes a section on key findings, followed by methods of killing, demographic trends, locations, and legal and judicial responses respectively.
It should, however, be noted that there is some discrepancy in the data that is publicly available, as the Metropolitan Police Service have not yet released the 2025 offender list, meaning offender demographics could not be drawn from an official source. As a result, this report has had to manually compile offender information using individual case entries on Murder Map, which provide age but do not disclose ethnicity. To establish ethnicity, newspaper reports were reviewed for each case, and where no explicit information was available, cautious inferred classifications were made based on visual cues. In all cases of uncertainty, the offender was recorded as ‘unknown’. Further limitations arise from the fact that the Murder map records fewer cases than the MPS homicide dashboard, so some offenders may have not been identified, resulting in unavoidable gaps in the dataset. Therefore, offender data should be interpreted with appropriate caution.
All percentages reported in this study have been rounded up to the nearest whole number. This may result in some percentages not adding up to 100%.
KEY FINDINGS
- Female homicides rose sharply, increasing by more than 20% from 2024 to 2025. 79% of women killed in 2025 died in domestic abuse incidents, marking a 61% rise in domestic abuse homicides and the highest level in more than a decade.
- Domestic abuse homicides overwhelmingly involved male perpetrators, with 27 of the 29 female victims killed by men.
- Total overall homicides fell to 97, the lowest level in over a decade,
- Elderly victims increased by 25%, with 21% of all homicide victims aged 65 or over. 85% of elderly victims were White, and many were killed in robberies, opportunistic attacks, or carer‑related abuse.
- Black Londoners remained disproportionately affected, representing 41% of homicide victims despite making up only 13.5% of the population. Black victims were more likely to be aged 25–34, while White victims were disproportionately elderly.
- Teenage involvement in offending increased, with 18 cases involving teenage offenders, including perpetrators as young as 14. All teenage victims recorded in 2025 were Black.
- Stabbings remained the most common method of killing (48%), though this represents a decline from 57% in 2024. In contrast, physical assault homicides rose from 15 to 25 cases, now accounting for 26% of all killings.
- South London became the new homicide hotspot, with Lewisham (11 cases), Southwark (8), Lambeth (8), and Croydon (5) recording the highest number of homicide cases
- Men continued to dominate both victim and offender profiles, accounting for 70% of victims and 95% of offenders. The average age of offenders fell to 31, driven by the rise in underage offenders.
METHOD OF KILLING
Based on a total of 97 homicides reported by the Metropolitan Police in 2025.
- 48% were stabbed;
- 26% were killed with no weapon or by physical assault;
- 8% were shot;
- 5% were killed by unknown means;
- 12% were killed by other means.
The number of homicides by knife decreased significantly from 57% in 2024. The number of homicides with no weapon rose to 25 cases in 2025, up from 15 in 2024.
DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS
Race of the victims:
- 41% were Black;
- 41% were White;
- 14% were Asian.
- 4% were Other or Unknown
In comparison with 2024, where 49% of victims were Black and 35% of victims were White, 2025 demonstrates a shift with 41% Black victims and 41% White victims. The percentage of Asian victims has increased from 8% in 2024 to 14% in 2025. However, although the proportion of Black homicide victims has decreased, the nature of violence affecting Black communities has changed whereby 100% of teenage homicide victims in 2025 were Black, meaning the youngest and most vulnerable victims of homicide were exclusively from the Black community.
Percentage breakdown of race in Greater London:
- 13.5% are Black;
- 20.7% are Asian;
- 53.8% are White[5].
From this, we can conclude that Black people living in London are comparatively three times more likely to be homicide victims in Greater London in 2025 as a proportion of population. Black people represent 41% of homicide victims but only 13.5% of the Greater London population.
Race of the offenders:
In 60% of cases, MPS data on the offender’s ethnicity is not yet publicly available, or was not reported, which may have been due to offenders being underage. Of the cases where ethnicity was reported:
- 53% were Black;
- 20% were White;
- 13% were Asian;
- 15% were Latin American.
The prevalence of Black offenders continues to be a consistent trend which could be related to socioeconomic reasons and structural inequality. For instance, 36% of Black Londoners are living in poverty, double that of White Londoners (18%).[6]
- Gender of the Victims:
70% were Male; - 30% were Female.
Of the female victims:
- 45% were stabbed;
- 34% were beaten;
- 79% of women were killed in domestic incidents;
- 27 out of the 29 women killed were killed by men;
- 55% of female victims were White;
- 24% were Black;
- 21% were Asian.
Gender of the offenders:
- 95% were Male;
- 5% were Female.
Average age of the victims:
The overall average age of victims was 44. The average age of victims by race was:
- 56 years for White victims;
- 32 years for Black victims;
- 36 years for Asian victims.
The average age of victims by gender was:
- 42 for Male victims;
- 50 for Female victims.
Average age of offenders
The overall average age of the offenders in 2025 was 31 years. The average age of offenders by race was:
- 32 for Black offenders;
- 41 for White offenders;
- 29 for Asian offenders.
The Average age of offenders by gender was:
- 32 for Male offenders;
- 32 for Female offenders.
LEGAL AND JUDICIAL RESPONSE
At the time of writing, according to MPS, 63 homicides are solved, whilst 34 homicides remain unsolved. This differs to Murder Map which reports that 25 homicide cases are solved, 12 are unsolved, 50 are awaiting trial and in 2 cases the suspect is dead.
There is a notable discrepancy between the number of unsolved homicide cases reported by Murder Map and the number reported by MPS. The 12 unsolved cases reported by Murder Map reflects their own categorisation, based on the cases they have logged and whether a suspect has been identified or charged at the time of their last update.
The MPS figures will be used as the main source for statistics in this report. However, MPS does not specify whether cases ‘awaiting trial’ are included within their definition of ‘unsolved’ which may partly account for the higher number. The two datasets are not directly comparable because they use different classification systems:
- Murder Map records a homicide on the date the victim died and marks a case as ‘unsolved’ only when no suspect has been identified or charged.
- MPS’s classification of an ‘unsolved’ case reflects that of an ‘undetected’ homicide in police data (ref- Met Police murder detectives ‘face wall of silence’ – BBC News). ‘Undetected’ cases in police data refer to crimes that have been formally recorded by the police but remain unsolved (ref- Public to get a more detailed picture of how crimes are investigated – GOV.UK ).
- MPS data will serve as the primary source, while Murder Map is used only where it provides additional contextual detail that is not available from official statistics. The difference in Murder Map and MPS’s classifications of ‘unsolved’ cases may be due to differences in case logging, geographic coverage, and the criteria used to define a case as ‘unsolved’.
Please note that percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
Unsolved cases
Out of the ‘unsolved’ cases:
- 35% were stabbings;
- 26% were people killed by physical assault;
- 9% were shootings;
- 29% were people killed by unknown or other means.
As for gender in unsolved cases:
- 55% of victims of unsolved cases are male;
- 45% are female
In terms of the race of victims of unsolved cases:
- 44% were White;
- 38% were Black;
- 18% were Asian.
A particularly concerning development with the unsolved cases recorded by MPS, is the sharp rise in the proportion of female victims. In 2024, 22% of victims in unsolved cases were women, compared with 78% men. In 2025, 45% of victims in unsolved cases were female, doubling the previous year’s proportion.
This is especially troubling considering 80% of the unsolved female homicides in 2025 were domestic abuse related. This may suggest potential investigative challenges in domestic abuse homicides, where evidence may be more complex, with patterns of coercive control harder to trace, and victims often isolated from support networks.
Police Action:
In response to the 2025 homicide statistics, Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley emphasised that tackling violence against women and girls remains one of the Met’s highest priorities, highlighting that the Met is now arresting more male predators who pose a risk to women, describing this as a key outcome of the first phase of the Met’s Reform Plan.[7] However, the significant rise in domestic abuse homicides suggests that enforcement alone is insufficient.
The Government’s new cross government strategy sets a nation mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, built around prevention, the pursuit of perpetrators, and comprehensive victims support. This focuses on:
- challenging misogyny and harmful attitudes from childhood
- restricting young people’s access to abusive online content, coinciding with the recent social media ban for under 16’s
- launching national behaviour change campaigns. [8]
These are promising steps, but their impact remains to be seen. The 2025 data emphasises the urgency of strengthening early intervention, improving safeguarding, and addressing the systemic failures that allow domestic abuse to escalate to homicide.
LOCATION
Interactive maps showing the locations of all homicides can be found on the Metropolitan police homicide dashboard and the Murder Map[9]. The highest concentration of homicides happened in South London, with Lewisham seeing 11 homicides and Southwark and Lambeth seeing 8 homicides each. These mark a shift from 2024 where the homicide hotspots were City of Westminster and several East London Boroughs including Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets and Hackney.
In terms of unsolved homicides, two unsolved cases were located in Lewisham, three in Southwark and two in Lambeth. The remaining unsolved cases took place in Hillingdon, Ealing, Brent, Barnet, Camden, Haringey, Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Richmond, Merton, Croydon, Greenwich, Bexley and Newham.
Many of the boroughs which had homicide victims experience poor educational outcomes and a high number of households in temporary accommodation. Other boroughs where homicides took place had high child poverty rates, high poverty rates, high eviction rates, high unemployment rates and high rough sleeping rates. [10] These socioeconomic factors may create environments where violence is more likely to occur and where residents may be more vulnerable to both victimisation and offending.
CONCLUSION
This report has provided an overview of the homicides in London in 2025 which have decreased from 111 cases in 2024, to 97 in 2025, as recorded by MPS. Whilst this decline is promising, the underlying patterns highlighted in this report, reveal a complex and troubling picture. Stabbings remained the most common method of killing, though the proportion of knife crime homicides fell from 57% in 2024 to 48% in 2025. In contrast, homicides involving physical assault rose sharply, increasing from 15 to 25 cases. This shift could align with a growing number of killings arising from domestic incidents and opportunistic attacks.
Demographic patterns highlight persistent inequalities. Black Londoners remain disproportionately represented among homicide victims, accounting for 41% of deaths despite comprising just 13.5% of the population. Meanwhile, White victims were disproportionately elderly, reflecting a rise in robberies, opportunistic attacks, and carer‑related abuse targeting older Londoners. The increasing vulnerability of elderly victims, where 21% of all homicide victims were aged 65 or over, emphasises the need for stronger safeguarding and social support systems.
One of the most alarming trends of 2025 was the sharp rise in female homicides, which increased by more than 20% from the previous year. 79% of these women were killed in domestic abuse incidents, marking a 61% rise in domestic abuse homicides and the highest level in more than a decade. These killings overwhelmingly involved male perpetrators.
Geographically, homicides became increasingly concentrated in South London, particularly in Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth, and Croydon.
With 34 homicides still unsolved, and a high proportion of these unsolved cases involving female victims, the need for a more rapid, coordinated, and effective investigative response is clear. Nonetheless, the findings of this report also highlight the urgent need for:
- gender‑informed domestic abuse prevention strategies
- enhanced safeguarding for elderly Londoners
- targeted support for communities facing socioeconomic disadvantage
- early intervention programmes to address youth involvement in violence
London may have recorded fewer homicides in 2025, but the changing nature of violence, particularly the rise in domestic abuse killings, the growing vulnerability of elderly victims, and the increasing involvement of teenagers, demands sustained, multi‑agency action that involves a coordinated response from both the Met Police and the Government. Without comprehensive prevention strategies and strengthened social support systems, the downward trend in overall homicides risks underestimating the escalating harms faced by women, the elderly and young Black Londoners.
[1]Violence crackdown drives London’s homicide rate to record low; Metropolitan Police Service; https://news.met.police.uk/news/violence-crackdown-drives-londons-homicide-rate-to-record-low-504990
[2] London’s 2024 murders examined: key figures in the UK capital’s homicides; AOAV; https://aoav.org.uk/2025/londons-2024-murders-examined-key-figures-in-the-uk-capitals-homicides/
[3] Knife crime is not just statistics, it’s caskets – mother of murdered boy, 14; The Independent; https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/old-bailey-government-pain-people-met-police-b2796200.html
[4] Metropolitan Police Service Homicide Dashboard; Metropolitan Police Service; https://www.met.police.uk/police-forces/metropolitan-police/areas/stats-and-data/stats-and-data/met/homicide-dashboard/
[5] Regional ethnic diversity: UK population by ethnicity; UK Government – Ethnicity Facts and Figures; https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/regional-ethnic-diversity/latest/
[6] Poverty and ethnicity in London; Trust for London; https://trustforlondon.org.uk/data/poverty-and-ethnicity/
[7] Met prioritises neighbourhoods in new community crime‑fighting strategy; Metropolitan Police Service; https://news.met.police.uk/news/met-prioritises-neighbourhoods-in-new-community-crime-fighting-strategy-504097
[8] Freedom from Violence and Abuse: A cross‑government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls; UK Government; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-from-violence-and-abuse-a-cross-government-strategy/freedom-from-violence-and-abuse-a-cross-government-strategy-to-build-a-safer-society-for-women-and-girls-accessible
[9] London Murder Map 2025; MurderMap; https://www.murdermap.co.uk/maps/london-murder-map-2025/
[10] Borough‑level poverty 2025; Trust for London; https://trustforlondon.org.uk/news/borough-level-poverty-2025/
Report by Tessa Keeling
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