Gwent Police records record homicides in last five years

New data concerning the number of homicides recorded across England and Wales has been released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the period covering April 2022 to March 2023. 

Out of the four Welsh forces, Gwent Police is shown to have recorded the highest number of homicides in the year with seven, while South Wales Police - which covers both Cardiff and Swansea, as well as Bridgend, the Vale of Glamorgan, and Merthyr Tydfil, reported five.

The Gwent Police figure is the highest the force has recorded in five years.

The number of homicides in Gwent is seemingly on the rise, jumping up from four in 2021-22.

Four were also recorded in 2020-21 and six in 2019-20. 

The lowest homicide figure reported in Gwent in the last ten years was two in both 2016-17 and 2018-19, before it rose again. 

In comparison, South Wales Police's figure was the lowest it has been in nine years, dropping from 14 to five in the space of a year. 

North Wales Police and Dyfed-Powys reported five and six homicides in 2022-23 respectively. 

The total number of homicides recorded across Wales as a whole for last year was 23, which despite Gwent's rise, is a significant drop of 11 from 34 for 2021-22. 

It is also the third-lowest number of homicides reported nationally across Wales in the last ten years, only bettered by 16 in 2013-14 and 17 in 2020-21. 

Gwent Police's Detective Chief Superintendent Nicky Brain said in response to the figures: “Every life lost is a tragedy for the victim’s family, friends and community; and cases which require our officers to investigate the circumstances of that death are among the most serious that they will work on.

“Our thorough investigations did result in life sentences for three people, all of whom were jailed for murder, and significant prison sentences in our two manslaughter enquiries.

“These results show that our detectives will work tirelessly to secure justice for families and to place people who are found to be responsible for taking the life of another person behind bars for a substantial period of time.”

Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner candidate for Gwent, Hannah Jarvis said: “I am very disappointed to see these statistics for homicide in Gwent.

"These figures are worryingly regressive and for Gwent to have the highest number of homicides in Wales is extremely concerning.

"The Police and Crime Commissioner needs to immediately investigate why this has happened and take robust action to prevent this alarming pattern repeating in future.”