ONS · Homicide in England and Wales: appendix tables · 12 values

Homicides (Homicide Index) by method of killing

Offences currently recorded as homicide in England and Wales by the apparent method of killing, for all victims, for each year ending March since 2015 (Homicide Index, Table 8a).

latest 12 months to Year ending March 2025; 1 periods summed · total 522 offences

Method of killingLatest 12 monthsSharePrevious 12 monthsChange
Sharp instrument20539.3%261▼ 21.5%
Hitting, kicking etc. (without a weapon)11121.3%95▲ 16.8%
Strangulation, asphyxiation407.7%35▲ 14.3%
Not known366.9%39▼ 7.7%
Shooting326.1%22▲ 45.5%
Other305.7%41▼ 26.8%
Blunt instrument234.4%32▼ 28.1%
Motor vehicle214%19▲ 10.5%
Burning132.5%9▲ 44.4%
Drowning51%5→ 0%
Poison or drugs40.8%8▼ 50%
Explosion20.4%0

Source

Dataset
Homicide in England and Wales: appendix tables
Rows
; values are the sum of the published rows for each method of killing and period.
Caveat
Methods for male and female victims separately, the percentage table beneath the counts, or homicides recorded by the police that were later reclassified.
Parent metric
Homicides (Homicide Index)
API
/api/metrics/homicides_by_method/vintages