More than 500 murders have been recorded by the Met police in five years – and London’s killing hotspots have been laid bare in a map revealing the areas with the highest body counts and per capita crime rates.
The number of murders fell to its lowest level in more than a decade, according to the latest police statistics.
But there were still 431 killings in the year ending March 2026, although that was down 4% on the previous year and the lowest total since at least 2012.
That includes 98 recorded by the Met Police – making it the first year London has seen fewer than 100 murders since the year ending March 2015.
There were 105 murders recorded in London the previous year, 110 in the year ending March 2024, 110 in 2023 (including one recorded by the City of London Police), and 120 in 2022, a total of 543 murders in five years.
In that five-year period, Lambeth has witnessed the highest number of killings, with 34, including six in the last year.
Thirty-three murders have been recorded in that time in Lewisham, including 10 last year. There have also been 31 murders in five years in Southwark, 28 in Brent, and 27 in Croydon.
When adjusting for population size, Westminster has the highest murder rate per 100,000 people in England and Wales. The 24 murders in five years recorded in Westminster translates to a per-capita murder rate of 11.43 crimes per 100,000 residents.
However, that may be skewed by a high number of tourists and visitors compared to a relatively low resident population.
Excluding Westminster, Wolverhampton in the Midlands had the highest murder rate over the last five years in England and Wales, at 11.02 crimes per 100,000 people.
However, Lewisham (10.95 per 100,000 people) and Lambeth (10.73) in South London were close behind with the next highest murder rates.
You can see the murders recorded where you live using our interactive map.
Home Office statistics also monitor trends for cases of homicide, which includes murder, manslaughter and infanticide. Figures show that three-quarters of all victims of homicide are male. However, the circumstances and relationship to the suspect differ significantly by gender.
In the year ending March 2025, the latest analysis available, two in five female victims of homicide were suspected to have been killed by their partner or ex (40%). When a suspect was identified, intimate partners represented the vast majority of suspects. But only 4% of male victims were suspected to have been killed by a partner or ex-partner. Men were most likely to have been killed by a friend or acquaintance (20%) or a stranger (18%).
The most likely motivation for any homicide was a quarrel, revenge, or a sudden loss of temper. While homicide offences include manslaughter and infanticide, the vast majority of cases are murders.
