Cash rewards offered by the MPS for information on Murder Investigations in 2021

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.21.022329

I note you seek access to the following information:

Please can you answer the below for 2021 (1 Jan to 31 Sep) only - as to not attract S12 exemptions.

For how many of these murder investigations was a cash reward offered by your force to encourage the public to come forward with information about the case?

Please can you breakdown the data in terms of the ethnicity, age and gender of the main suspect/s (if there was one/were any identified at the time the reward was advertised); the ethnicity, age and gender of the victim/s in relation to each murder investigation, and the total amount offered (£) for information in each of the cash reward adverts (for example, on billboards or through social media posts).

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 30(1)(a) – Law Enforcement

Reason for decision

Section 30(1)(a) – Law Enforcement - It would not be in the wider public interest to disclose details of specific ongoing investigations if to do so may not only jeopardise those investigations in question, but could also have an impact on how we conduct similar investigations in the future.

As this investigation has since progressed, disclosing further information about it at this time may jeopardise it or hinder our ability to conduct further investigations into the matter. Furthermore, disclosing details of the suspect/s may potentially jeopardise their future chance of a fair trial.

Disclosure

I have today decided to disclose the majority of the requested information. Please find this attached.