Alarm as figures show one woman killed every 2 days

THE number of women killed in England and Wales rose by a quarter in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic with a homicide every two days, official figures revealed today.

- Martin Bentham

The Office for National Statistics said that 198 women were killed, almost all by men, in the 12 months to the end of March last year.

That was 38 more than the 160 women killed in the previous year — a 24 per cent rise — and represents one of the highest figures in the past decade.

The ONS suggested that the figures — which also show rises in men falling victim to homicide and a record number of knife killings, including 51 teenagers — were partly the result of the end of Covid restrictions which had suppressed violence on the streets.

A third of the women died at the hands of a partner or former partner with 60 such killings out of the 198 total over the year. Another 13 per cent were killed by a family member.

For all the female homicide victims, 95 per cent of the suspects charged so far are male.