FOI reference: FOI-2025-3194
You asked
Please provide the most recent available data held by the ONS for England and Wales covering the calendar years 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 (to date) relating to homicide victims.
Specifically, I request:
The total number of homicide victims recorded in each of those years.
A breakdown of homicide victims by ethnicity (as defined in ONS homicide statistics).
A breakdown of homicide victims by method of killing/weapon type, including sharp instrument/stabbing, firearm/shooting, blunt instrument, strangulation/asphyxiation, other/unknown.
Where possible, a cross-tabulation showing weapon type × ethnicity for each year.
The number and percentage of victims surviving initial hospital admission (if recorded or available via linkage with NHS or Home Office data).
The data source(s) used for these figures (e.g. Homicide Index, police returns, coronial data, or TARN linkage).
Please also confirm:
Whether ethnicity is based on self-defined, police-recorded, or derived ONS aggregated categories.
If comparable data for Scotland or Northern Ireland exists, please indicate the relevant data holders for those jurisdictions.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We publish Homicide in England and Wales data which includes findings from the analyses based on the Homicide Index recorded by the Home Office. The index contains record-level information about each homicide recorded by the police in England and Wales. The most recent available data is for the year ending (YE) March 2024, with time-series data dating back to YE March 2014. Data for YE March 2025 is scheduled to be released in February 2026.
You can find the number of homicide offences for each year in Table 1 of the Appendix tables: homicide in England and Wales.
Worksheet 6 includes a breakdown of the number and percentage of offences currently recorded as homicide by ethnic appearance of victim. Ethnicity is based on Officer-identified ethnicity classification and is therefore described as ethnic appearance. From 1 April 2021, ethnicity categories were changed on the Homicide Index to be consistent with ONS Census groupings.
Worksheet 8 includes a breakdown of the number and percentage of offences currently recorded as homicide, by apparent method of killing.
Table 12 includes a breakdown of the number of offences currently recorded as homicide by a sharp instrument, by ethnic appearance of victim. Unfortunately, we do not hold this data for each weapon type.
Unfortunately, we do not hold the information you requested regarding the number and percentage of victims surviving initial hospital admission. However, you may find table B8 of the Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables useful. This includes a breakdown of the number of hospital admissions in NHS hospitals in England and Wales for assault with sharp objects from YE March 2013 to YE March 2025. This data is obtained from the NHS Hospital Episode Statistics. You may wish to contact NHS Digital for further information at enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk.
As homicide data are collected by the Home Office it may also be helpful to contact them directly if you have any further questions. They can be contacted at CrimeandPoliceStats@homeoffice.gov.uk.
For crime statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland, you would need to contact Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency directly. Their contact details are foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk.
If you have any crime-related queries in the future, please email crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk and we will endeavour to help.
As the data for YE March 2025 will be released in the future, it is exempt from release under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). This exemption is subject to a public interest test. We recognise the desirability of information being freely available and this is considered by ONS when publication schedules are set in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The need for timely data must be balanced against the practicalities of applying statistical skill and judgement to produce the high quality, assured data needed to inform decision-making. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data which is arguably not in the public interest. This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before.