Fatal stabbings at 30-year high

The number of fatal stabbings in England and Wales rose from 269 to 270 last year, the highest total for at least 30 years, the Home Office said yesterday.

But statisticians added that this was a similar level to that seen in four out of the last six years and pointed out that fatal shootings had fallen from 59 to 53 over the same period.

The supplementary volume of Home Office crime figures published yesterday, which cover homicides, gun crime and intimate violence for the year to April 2008, also shows that the overall murder rate in England and Wales rose by 2% from 758 in 2006-07 to 773 in 2007-08...