Today the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice has released Homicide in England and Wales: year ending March 2021

This article contains analyses of information held within the Home Office Homicide Index, which contains detailed record-level information about each homicide recorded by police in England and Wales.

The main points from the article are:

 • There were 594 homicide victims in the year ending March 2021, 79 fewer (a 12% decrease) than the previous year and the lowest number since the year ending March 2016 (540 victims).

 • The preceding year (ending March 2020) included the 39 victims found in a lorry in Grays, Essex and if this incident is excluded from that year, there would have been a smaller (6%) year-on-year decrease.

 • The year ending March 2021 covered certain time periods where coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions were in place to limit social contact; these restrictions may have led to a reduction in homicide in this year.

 • The homicide rate was 9.9 per million population, with the rate for males (14 per million population) more than twice that for females (6 per million population).

 • The headline reduction of 12% from the previous year masked different trends between males and females; the number of male victims decreased by 16% (495 to 416) whereas the number of female victims was the same as last year (177 victims).

 • Although there was a substantial fall in the number of victims who were killed in public places compared with last year (a 27% decrease), there was a 5% increase in victims who were killed in a residential setting, which may explain the different trends between males and females.

 • There were 114 domestic homicides in the year ending March 2021, a similar number to the average over the last five years.

 • For those homicide victims where a suspect had been charged, 92% (380) of victims had suspects who were male.