KILLERS who take the lives of black people have a greater chance of getting away with their crimes than those who target white people, new research shows.
Analysis of unsolved homicides in London between 2019 and 2023 found minority ethnic Britons made up 61.7 per cent of reported homicide victims but 92.9 per cent of unsolved murder victims.
Black people were victims in 40 per cent of all homicides during that period and represented 73 per cent of unsolved murder cases, reported The Guardian. They made up 83.7 per cent, 36 victims, of unsolved shootings and 73.5 per cent, 39 victims, of unsolved stabbings.
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The Metropolitan police say the disparity is due in part to black people having lower trust in the police, which they say they are trying to improve.
The Met's head of homicide, commander Paul Brogden, told the Guardian: "We know serious violence disproportionately affects certain communities, particularly young black men, who have the lowest trust in policing. This means sadly victims or witnesses are less likely to come forward and trust us."
The study, by Action on Armed Violence, found deaths by shooting were more likely to be unsolved than those by stabbing. London averaged 124.6 homicides a year between 2019 and 2023, with stabbings accounting for 65.3 per cent of killings and shootings 8.7 per cent. Yet among the 41 unsolved murders from this period, shootings made up 38 per cent.
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Brogden said: "As this report outlines, that is an added complexity following shootings or stabbings on the streets, where identifying suspects requires more detailed investigative work, particularly when compared to domestic murders.
"While we use every tool at our disposal such as CCTV and forensics, often it's witness evidence which can prove vital in securing convictions."
DCI Alex Gammampila, a senior Scotland Yard homicide detective, said: "There tends to be more planning and thought to it [a shooting], rather than a spontaneous pick up of a knife and stabbing thrust.
"All this makes firearms offences more challenging to solve."
The average age of homicide victims in London is about 36, but for unsolved cases it drops to 28.
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The Met has a high clear-up rate for homicides, running at nine out of 10 killings resulting in justice. Last year it recorded 97 homicides in London, down from 153 in 2019, the lowest in a decade.
The study says between 2015 and 2024 there were 110 unsolved homicides, 9 per cent, of 1,222 killings in that period.
