Knife-related Killings Decline in England and Wales
Killings involving a knife or sharp instrument decreased by 21% last year, according to data from police forces across England and Wales.
This follows earlier official statistics indicating that homicides had reached their lowest level in nearly five decades.
Crime figures published on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that 172 homicides involving a knife or sharp instrument were recorded by police forces in 2025, compared to 217 in 2024.
The number of knife-related killings last year is also the lowest since comparable records began in 2010-11.
Overall Homicide Offences Also Decline
The dataset further shows that the total number of homicide offences in 2025, which amounted to 503 offences, fell by 6% compared with 534 offences in 2024.
According to the Crown Prosecution Service, homicide offences include murder, manslaughter, infanticide, and causing or allowing the death or serious injury of a child or vulnerable adult.
Knife-related Crime and Theft Statistics
Recorded knife-related crime also decreased by 10% in 2025 compared to 2024, with 49,151 offences reported.
To provide a broader perspective on crime in England and Wales, the ONS incorporated estimates from its annual Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) in the new dataset.
The CSEW is a face-to-face survey that asks individuals aged 16 and over about their experiences of crime in the preceding year.
It estimated there were 2.6 million theft incidents in 2025, representing an 11% decrease from the previous year.
Police data included in the ONS dataset also indicated a 1% decline in recorded shoplifting offences, totaling 509,566 in 2025 compared with 2024, despite recent increases in this crime category.
Changes in Crime Recording Practices
The ONS noted that the Home Office recently clarified to police forces that shoplifting incidents involving violence or threats of violence should be recorded as robbery of business property.
This change had likely had a "small effect" on the number of shoplifting offences recorded since April last year.
This adjustment may also explain the rise in offences classified as robbery of businesses, which increased by 78%, from 14,691 in 2024 to 26,158 in 2025.
