How have knife crime and gang-related homicide trends in London changed in the past five years (2020–2025)?
Executive summary
London’s knife-enabled offences rose sharply through the 2010s, peaked around 2019/20, then stayed at elevated levels into the early 2020s before signs of a modest fall by 2025; national figures show about 51,527 knife offences in the year to June 2025 for England and Wales and ~53,000 for the year to March 2025 (England & Wales totals), while London accounts for a large share of those offences and recorded roughly 15–16k knife incidents in 2024/25 according to some dashboards [1] [2] [3]. Homicides in London moved from a 2019 high [4] down through the early 2020s to roughly 103–131 range in later years and about 104 in the 2024/25 reporting year, with reporting in 2025 pointing to fewer homicides in year-to-date snapshots [5] [6] [7].
1. The five‑year picture: knife offences climbed, then edged down in 2024–25
Recorded knife or sharp‑instrument offences in England and Wales rose across the 2010s and remained high after the 2019/20 peak; Office for National Statistics–based briefings note around 53,000 offences in the year to March 2025 and reductions of about 5% in the 12 months to June 2025 compared with the prior year, signaling a modest national decline into 2025 [1] [8]" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[8]. Several London‑focused sources show the Met area continued to record the highest absolute numbers — figures cited include roughly 15,600–16,700 Met incidents in 2024 and a Met dashboard placing London as ~30% of national knife‑enabled crime — while other reporting and charity briefings put total knife‑enabled offences at about 51,527–54,587 in 2024/25 depending on the cut used [3] [9] [2] [10].
2. Homicide trends: down from recent highs but uneven across years
Homicides in Greater London rose to a 2019 high [4] and then fell in subsequent years; Statista’s summary of ONS data reports 104 homicides in 2024/25 compared with 116 the year before, and City Hall/MOPAC commentary in 2025 highlighted lower year‑to‑date homicide counts and reductions in teenage homicides and knife offences in rolling year comparisons [5] [6] [7]. Independent datasets and commentators emphasise volatility year‑to‑year and seasonal or local spikes — meaning the downward movement in 2025 should be viewed alongside short‑term variation [6] [7].
3. The role of gangs: a persistent, but variably measured, driver of lethal violence
Multiple analyses and policing sources link a substantial share of killings in London to gang‑related activity: investigative pieces and Met commentary estimated that gangs were behind roughly a third of London killings in recent reporting (and other studies have historically put gang‑related homicide shares in the 30–35% range), while the College of Policing’s summary notes around 10% of homicides are recorded as gang‑related nationally but that these account for a much larger share of youth homicides [11] [12] [13]. Definitions, data collection and local intelligence tools (for example the Met’s Gangs Violence Matrix and its replacement assessments) shape those figures and create variation between sources [14].
4. Demography and geography: young males, concentrated places
Reporting and analysis consistently show victims and offenders skew male and younger; London’s knife‑enabled offences and homicide victims disproportionately include men under 25, and homicides are spatially concentrated in deprived neighbourhoods and particular boroughs — a pattern stressed by the College of Policing and London problem‑profiles [15] [13] [16]. This concentration underlies targeted local interventions but also means city‑wide aggregates can mask intense local harm.
5. Explanations, interventions and competing narratives
Government, mayoral and policing voices emphasise targeted policing, funding for the Met and prevention work (for example the Violence Reduction Unit) as drivers of recent reductions cited in 2025 commentary; critics argue long‑term trends show knife crime rose under current governance and point to enforcement and social‑policy failures, producing a political debate visible across parliamentary debate and media coverage [7] [17] [18]. Think‑tanks and charities also note recording practice changes and hospital admissions data must be weighed alongside police figures to assess true violence levels [19]" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[19] [1].
6. Limits of the available data and what’s not stated
Public sources use differing time windows (calendar year, year ending March/June, MPS reporting year) and definitions (knife‑enabled vs. sharp‑instrument vs. homicide classifications), producing divergent headline numbers; Parliamentary briefings and the ONS provide combined England & Wales totals but borough‑level consistency for 2024–25 is patchy, and some NGO or commercial summaries use Met dashboard extracts that may differ in cut‑off date [1] [20] [3]. Available sources do not mention a single, agreed county‑level time series for “knife crime in London 2020–2025” that reconciles every dataset, and they show the debate over causes (recording, policing, social factors) remains contested [1] [19]" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[19].
Conclusion — what readers should take away: measured against the 2019/20 peak, homicides and some categories of knife crime in London have not simply continued upward unchecked; by 2024–25 several official and independent datasets record modest falls or lower year‑to‑date counts, but gang‑linked killings remain a notable share of lethal violence and the problem is geographically and demographically concentrated. All assertions above are drawn from the cited sources and reflect differences in definitions and reporting windows across those sources [1] [2] [6] [11].