There was a 44 per cent rise in the number of homicides in London last year as violent crime rose across the UK, putting more pressure on the government to rethink cuts that critics say have hollowed out the police.
There were 157 homicides in the UK capital in the 12 months to March, up from 109 in the previous year. The increase can be partly explained by last year’s terror attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and Finsbury Park, which resulted in eight deaths.
The Metropolitan Police also recorded a 21 per cent increase in knife crime and a near 36 per cent rise in robberies.
Nationwide, knife crime rose 22 per cent in the calendar year to December 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics, and homicides rose 9 per cent. Sexual offences were up 11 per cent and rape cases increased by more than 18 per cent.
There was no change in the number of fraud cases, however, at 3.2m, and there was a 28 per cent decrease in crime committed through the misuse of computers.
The spate of violent crime in London, which has seen a series of stabbingsand murders since the start of 2018, has left politicians and police chiefs scrambling to respond to public outrage.
In February, Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, announced an extra £59m of annual funding for the Met, some of which will be used to fund a 120-strong violent crime task force.
On Thursday, Mr Khan sought to frame the sharp jump in violent crime in London as part of a wider trend. “This is a national problem that urgently needs national solutions from the government,” he said.
Martin Hewitt, the Met’s assistant commissioner, said London’s police force “continues to experience a very busy and challenging time against the backdrop of significant reductions in resources”.
Flowers and tributes left for 18-year-old Israel Ogunsola in Hackney, east London, this month © EPA
Despite the concerns, the Home Office said overall crime levels across the country were “stable”.
Crime has been falling since its peak in the mid 1990s and even in London, the 157 homicides in 2017/18 were some way below the 205 recorded in 2003/04.
But officials acknowledged that there has been a shift in the past two years, particularly in London and other large cities.
Both Mr Khan and Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour party, have portrayed the recent increase in knife crime and murders as a consequence of the Conservative government’s austerity programme. Mr Khan has said that the Met has had to find £600m of savings in recent years and faces further cutbacks.
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According to the latest Home Office statistics, there were 121,929 police officers in the 43 police forces in England and Wales at the end of last September — the lowest number of officers since comparable records began in 1996.
The increased focus on counter terror policing in a year when London and Manchester were hit by five separate attacks which resulted in 36 innocent deaths is also likely to have placed resources under pressure.
Tom Gash, from University College London, said: “Counter terrorism is the only area where budgets have been protected. At the same time neighbourhood policing has been cut and it’s likely that has had an impact.”
Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said the recent loss of 2,000 police officers from his own force was having a real impact on the public.
“Quite simply we are having to prioritise those incidents where the greatest harm is caused more than ever before,” he said
