The number of “threat to kill” knife offences in London has risen to close to a record high, official figures reveal.
There were 154 such attacks in April, up from 126 in March, 92 in February and 127 in January, according to Metropolitan Police data.
The alarming new figure is the second highest on record, going back to 2015, and sparked a heated political row over law and order in London.
While overall knife crime is down in London, the city has been rocked in recent weeks by a series of fatal and other serious stabbings.
In what appears to be a worrying sign of how blades are being used, there were 1,422 “threat to kill” knife offences recorded in the year to April 2026, up by 192 from 1,230 in the previous 12 months.
The highest monthly number of “threat to kill” knife offences was 159 in October 2022.
It has only risen above 150 on two other occasions, in July last year at 151 and August 2022 at 153.
There is often an increase in crime in the summer months.
In one of the latest knife attacks, a singer-songwriter who worked with stars including Dua Lipa, Zendaya and Britney Spears died after being stabbed in London on Friday.
Talay Riley, 35, was found at an address in Silvertown, east London, at around 9am on Friday having suffered stab wounds, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
In one shocking incident last month youths were filmed fighting in broad daylight in a south London park with machetes.
As the capital reels from the attacks, shadow home secretary Chris Philp, MP for Croydon South, told The Standard: “The Labour Government and Sadiq Khan have no grip on London’s serious violence epidemic.
“In the last 18 months, police officer numbers in London have plummeted by over 1,000 leaving our streets less safe.
“We need to see an urgent increase in stop and search.”
Liberal Democrat London spokesman Luke Taylor, MP for Sutton and Cheam, stressed: "Knife crime behaves like a virus, with one attack too often leading to another in a tragic spiral.
“We know from other cities that the virus is only stemmed by a two-pronged approach; more resources to get bobbies out on the beat...and more resources to violence reduction schemes.”
City Hall stressed that overall knife crime was down by more than 17% in the year to April, from 16,083 offences in the previous 12 months to 13,319, or 2,764 fewer.
Knife crime with injury also fell by 11% over this period, from 3,754 offences to 3,341, a drop of 413.
London’s homicide rate in the calendar year 2025 was the lowest in recorded history, it added.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, said: “Sadiq (Khan) is committed to doing all he can to be tough on crime and its complex causes to build on the significant reductions of violence achieved in London with homicides, teen murders and total recorded crime all down.
“Knife crime has absolutely no place on our streets and the Mayor is investing record funding in the Met to go after the worst offenders and the preventative work of London’s Violence Reduction Unit.
“But it is clear that there is more work to do.”
Commander James Conway, the Met’s frontline policing lead, highlighted a two-week crackdown on knife crime last month which saw 243 people arrested, including 88 of the “most dangerous knife crime offenders in London”, and 2,800 knives taken off the streets last year.
He added: “We know serious violence disproportionately affects certain communities, particularly young black men.
“We are working closely with communities to continue building trust and ensure offenders are identified and brought to justice.”
Laila Cunningham, Reform UK’s London mayoral candidate, responding to the “threat to kill” data, said: “These numbers should shame even City Hall.
“Londoners are asking the question, when is enough enough in this lawless city?”
Knife crime robberies, at 591 in April were close to a record low over the last three years, but higher than in the years before then.
There are fewer knife crime victims but the number of such individuals of “black ethnic appearance” has risen in recent months to 287 in April, a high level in recent years.
