London Knife Crime Has Risen 86 Percent in a Decade: Think Tank

The report said nearly 17,000 knife crime offenses were recorded in London in 2024.

An image of two teenagers armed with large knives attacking Kelyan Bokassa, 14, on a double decker bus in Woolwich, London, on Jan. 7, 2025. TfL/Metropolitan Police

Knife crime in London rose by 86 percent between 2014 and 2024 and is highly concentrated in areas such as the West End, which features tourist destinations including Oxford Circus and Regent Street, according to a report by the Policy Exchange think tank.

Most knife crime in London involves robbery, with cellphones the most common target, according to the report. In 2024, 61.6 percent of knife crime offenses in the British capital were robberies.

The report states that “London is in the grip of a crimewave of robbery, knife crime and theft.”

One small geographic area, consisting of about 20 streets around Oxford Circus and Regent Street in central London, recorded more knife crime offenses than 716 (14.35 percent) of the least-affected areas of the capital combined, according to the report.

The report said London recorded nearly 17,000 knife crime offenses in 2024, an 86 percent increase since 2014.

There were also 100,000 mugging incidents reported to the police in London in 2024—officially recorded as “theft from person”—an increase of 170 percent in three years.

“The proportion of criminals caught by the Metropolitan Police is pitiful—with only 1 in 20 robberies and 1 in 170 theft person offences solved in 2024,” the report says.

It also highlights falling rates of imprisonment for convicted criminals, which it says have dropped from 66.1 percent in 2014 to 55.4 percent in 2024. The report said only 36.5 percent of those convicted of violent offenses were sent to prison last year.

The report makes several recommendations, including suggesting that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley issue a joint statement “explicitly stating that they support a substantial increase” in the number of stop-and-searches, whatever the ethnicity of those involved.

In recent years, lawmakers such as Diane Abbott have claimed that black people are unfairly targeted when police carry out stop-and-searches for drugs, knives, or other weapons.

Stop-and-Search Race Claims Challenged

The report’s author, David Spencer, a former detective chief inspector with the Met, said, “Critics argue that black Londoners are unfairly targeted—claims we robustly challenge.”

Spencer said the data shows that black people were “over-represented” among victims of the most serious knife crimes and were five times more likely than white people in London to be charged with murder.

“While only 13.5 percent of London’s population are black, 48.6 percent of robbery suspects are described as black by victims when reporting the crime to the police,” Spencer said.

Endorsing the Policy Exchange report, Labour MP Margaret Mullane said, “Robbery, knife attacks, and phone thefts have become routine, yet while street crime surges, the criminal justice system has faltered.”

This year, there have been several high-profile knife murders in London.

An undated image of Kelyan Bokassa (L) with his mother, Marie Bokassa (R), in an undated photograph. Kelyan was stabbed to death on a double-decker bus in Woolwich, London, England, on Jan. 7, 2025. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Police

Schoolboy Stabbed 27 Times

On Jan. 7, 2025, 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa was attacked by two teenagers on the top deck of a double-decker bus in Woolwich, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Police said the pair cornered him and stabbed him a total of 27 times with large machete-style knives.

One of them had been convicted of possessing a so-called zombie knife in a public place in August 2023 and was given a six-month referral order, meaning he did not go to prison.

On July 25, Judge Mark Lucraft jailed the pair for a minimum of 15 years but did not lift a court order banning them from being identified.

In his sentencing remarks, referring to a victim impact statement by Kelyan’s mother, Marie Bokassa, the judge said, “She poses the question that many will be asking: How can children behave like this, so completely violent and angry? What have the children been exposed to, so show such behaviour as this?”

A ban on zombie knives came into force in September 2024.

Last month, Khan told LBC that knife crime kept him awake at night, adding that “to address this issue, you’ve got to support young people.”

Khan said, “We’ve been investing in youth workers, youth clubs, keeping children in school, paying for more police officers in London.”

In June 2019, ahead of a state visit to the UK, U.S. President Donald Trump said Khan “should focus on crime in London” rather than on him.

On Monday, during his latest visit to the UK, Trump said Khan, who was reelected in 2021 and 2024, has “done a terrible job.”

In a statement emailed to The Epoch Times, Commander Hayley Sewart, the Metropolitan Police’s lead for knife crime, said, “Tackling violent crime is our top priority and every month across London we are making over 1,000 more arrests than we were last year, with knife-related crime (16 percent) and robbery (13 percent) both falling significantly.”

Sewart added, “While we do not agree with all of the analysis in this report, we have called previously for reform of the justice system and the collaboration of partners like major mobile phone producers. Reducing knife crime requires a whole-of-society effort and we will consider any initiative that seeks to make this happen.”