Latest updates: CCHQ and government say they do not endorse Anderson’s view
The number of people killed with a knife in England and Wales in 2021-22 was the highest on record for 76 years, the Office for National Statistics has said. It disclosed the finding in a report on homicide figures in England and Wales in the year ending March 2022. It said:
Approximately 4 in 10 homicides were committed using a knife or sharp instrument (282 homicides); a 19% increase compared with the previous year, and the highest annual total since the homicide index began in 1946 (similar to the previous high of 281 in the year ending March 2018).
Homicide returned to pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels, with 696 victims in the latest year; this is 130 more (a 23% increase) than the year ending March 2021 when government restrictions meant there was less social contact.
