A new analysis of homicide cases in London has found that most unsolved murders involved victims from minority ethnic backgrounds, with black people accounting for a large share of killings that remain unresolved.

The study, carried out by Action on Armed Violence, reviewed unsolved homicides in the capital between 2019 and 2023. It found that minority ethnic British people made up 61% of victims in that period. When researchers focused specifically on murders that were still unsolved, they reported that 92.9% of cases were linked to a victim who was a person of colour.

Disparities In Unsolved Victims

Across the full set of homicides recorded between 2019 and 2023, black people were victims in 40% of cases. The study also found black victims represented 73% of all unsolved murder cases during the same timeframe.

It broke this down further by weapon type. Black victims accounted for 83.7% of unsolved shootings, with 36 victims, and 73.5% of unsolved stabbings, with 39 victims.

Campaigners said the findings should be viewed alongside the wider challenge of trust between communities and police. Iain Overton, of Action on Armed Violence, said the data indicated London’s unsolved murders were not evenly distributed, with cases concentrated among young black men and those involving firearm violence. He added that this could reinforce mistrust if families see that communities most affected by deadly violence are less likely to see those responsible brought to justice.

Chart created with AI

Shootings More Likely To Remain Unsolved

The research also found that deaths involving shootings were more likely to remain unsolved than killings involving stabbings.

Between 2019 and 2023, London averaged 124.6 homicides per year. Stabbings accounted for 65.3% of all killings, while shootings made up 8.7%. However, among 41 murders from that period that remained unsolved, shootings accounted for 38%, far higher than their share of the overall total.

The study said the average age of homicide victims in London is about 36. For unsolved cases, the average dropped to 28, indicating that unresolved killings skew towards younger victims.

Police Say Investigation And Trust Issues Matter

The Metropolitan police said the disparity is linked, in part, to levels of trust in policing among black communities. Commander Paul Brogden, head of homicide, said serious violence disproportionately affects certain groups, particularly young black men, who he said have the lowest trust in the police. He added that this can mean victims or witnesses are less likely to come forward and place trust in investigations.

Brogden also highlighted the complexity of solving firearm-related offences compared with domestic murders. He said officers use tools such as CCTV and forensics, but that witness evidence can be crucial to securing convictions.

A senior homicide detective at Scotland Yard, DCI Alex Gammampila, said shootings often involve more planning than stabbings, which he described as more likely to be spontaneous. He said this makes firearms offences harder to solve.

The Met said it has a high clear-up rate for homicides, with nine out of 10 killings resulting in justice. Last year the force recorded 97 homicides in London, down from 153 in 2019 and the lowest figure in a decade.

The Action on Armed Violence study also examined a wider period, saying that between 2015 and 2024 there were 110 unsolved homicides, representing 9% of 1,222 killings.

Join the discussion?

23 August 2026

View full article

The Black community tend not to talk to the Police , thus crimes don't get solved

Here's a thought, instead of focusing on social media posts they might try and solve actual crimes like stabbings and shootings...

Hardly surprising given the "black community's" propensity for gun crime, they are disproportionately represented both as victims and perpetrators.

One particularly ironic case was Sasha Johnson, high profile campaigner for Black Lives Matter, who was shot through the head at a party leaving her with catastrophic brain damage. The "community" provided no evidence so the case against the 4 shooters collapsed.

I guess the whole "Black Lives Matter" thing wasn't high on anyone's agenda when it really mattered.

57 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Sasha Johnson, high profile campaigner for Black Lives Matter, who was shot through the head at a party leaving her with catastrophic brain damage.

Shouldn't that be : with even more catastrophic brain damage ?

49 minutes ago, FlorC said:

Shouldn't that be : with even more catastrophic brain damage ?

In fairness, BLM was a pretty decent grift for a while.

I mean, why not monetize the white guilt of the dumb western Liberals that you so despise?

It really was WIN WIN until the corruption was exposed by those nasty racists. 😄

Tax documents reveal Black Lives Matter improperly spent tens of millions in donations - World Socialist Web Site

What a surprise. No one cares so much about Black victims.

Just like in Japan they don't care so much about non- Japanese victims.

A Farang working there followed a Nigerian tout into a bar and stupidity drank a couple mixed drinks.

Woke up in the alley outside with his wallet missing and a $4000 USD charge on his credit card to a Philipino business. The Yakuza supposedly traffic them to Japan and they work for sub minimum wage and are homeless.

The Japanese police told the Farang victim that area (Red light district of Tokyo) is "dangerous" and to avoid drinking there at random bars.

Crime is international, but so is stupidity. 😁

23 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

In fairness, BLM was a pretty decent grift for a while.

I mean, why not monetize the white guilt of the dumb western Liberals that you so despise?

It really was WIN WIN until the corruption was exposed by those nasty racists. 😄

Tax documents reveal Black Lives Matter improperly spent tens of millions in donations - World Socialist Web Site

Tashella Dickerson will be charged. Whatever happen to massive sum of donation money for Save America PAC that TRump spent over $50 million for his personal legal defenses across civil and criminal trials. Any thing to say?

1 minute ago, Eric Loh said:

Tashella Dickerson will be charged. Whatever happen to massive sum of donation money for Save America PAC that TRump spent over $50 million for his personal legal defenses across civil and criminal trials. Any thing to say?

Oh look, another obsessed Liberal trying to turn every single thread into a Trump discussion 😄.

Unlike many on the forum, I don’t pretend to be an “expert” on another country’s issues, problems or policies.

In America the vast majority of violence on blacks is by their fellow blacks. Yet never criticized by BLM or even the most holy Reverend Al Sharpton.

Is the UK similar?

Who cares about murders, be like Sadiq Khan. New ad just dropped for visiting UK.

Edited yesterday at 02:34 AM1 day by FinChin67

22 hours ago, HolmesEquivelant said:

Unlike many on the forum, I don’t pretend to be an “expert” on another country’s issues, problems or policies.

In America the vast majority of violence on blacks is by their fellow blacks. Yet never criticized by BLM or even the most holy Reverend Al Sharpton.

Is the UK similar?

When it comes to homicides it is.

Victims and principal suspects are most often from the same ethnic group.

White victims: ~84–89% associated with a White principal suspect.

Black victims: ~58–71% associated with a Black principal suspect (most recent MoJ summary cites 60%;

Commons Library analysis of 2021/22–2023/24 data shows higher same-group figures in some presentations; earlier periods were around 55–77%).

Asian victims: ~52–56% associated with an Asian principal suspect.

In other words, black-on-black is the majority pattern for Black homicide victims, while white-on-black is a minority of those cases.

Worth noting: In UK (England and Wales) crime and criminal justice statistics, “Asian” primarily means people of South Asian origin ( Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi) not East Asians from China, Japan, or South Korea.

22 hours ago, HolmesEquivelant said:

Unlike many on the forum, I don’t pretend to be an “expert” on another country’s issues, problems or policies.

In America the vast majority of violence on blacks is by their fellow blacks. Yet never criticized by BLM or even the most holy Reverend Al Sharpton.

Is the UK similar?

Yes, the UK is similar. For violent crime, most violence on black people is committed by other black people.

For petty crime like phone snatching, they don't tend to discriminate.