Latest data shows fall in 'knife crime'

HOMICIDES involving a knife or sharp instrument recorded by police forces in England and Wales fell 21% last year, while overall knife crime dropped by 10%, figures show.

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Some 172 knife homicides were logged by forces in 2025, down from 217 in 2024 and the lowest annual number since comparable data began in 2010/11.

The fall helped drive down the total number of homicides last year, which stood at 503, down 6% from 534 in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Levels of police-recorded knife crime are now at their lowest since the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A total of 49,151 knife offences were logged by forces in England and Wales in 2025, down from 54,548 in 2024.

The figure is lower than the 49,190 offences recorded in 2021/22, but higher than the 44,728 in the first year of the pandemic, 2020/21.

Two-thirds of police forces in England and Wales (29 out of 44) recorded a year-on-year fall in incidents of knife crime in 2025.