You asked
Could you please provide details on the number of murders in England and Wales in 2018 and 2019. In each year could you specify how many died as a result of firearms and how many as a result of edge weapons.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We publish data relating to crime statistics from two main sources: The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and crime recorded by the police.
The CSEW is a victimisation survey and therefore does not cover homicide offences. Homicide includes the offences of murder, manslaughter, corporate manslaughter and infanticide. The CSEW does not capture well offences involving weapons, therefore the best source of data for your request is police recorded crime.
Homicide data is generally recorded in financial years (year to March). The most detailed information on homicides comes from a special collection called the Homicide Index submitted to the Home Office.
The most recent publication of this data is in the Homicide in England and Wales: year ending March 2019. Table 6a and 6b break down homicides for each financial year up to March 2019 by sex and type of weapon used. For data relating to both sharp instrument homicides and homicides where a firearm was used see Appendix tables: homicide in England and Wales. Detailed data for the year ending March 2019 were also released in Offences involving the use of weapons: data tables and Offences involving the use of firearms: March 2019. Within these tables you will also find corresponding data for the year ending March 2018.
More up to date but less detailed information on homicides recorded by the police is in included in our quarterly bulletin, the most recent of which is the Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2020 publication. This release includes separate sections on homicide, knife crime and offences involving firearms. The number of homicides where a knife or a sharp instrument was used in a homicide is presented in Table F3 of Other related tables to the year ending March 2020. More recent data on homicides involving the use of firearms is not presented.