Homicides flagged as hate crimes recorded by the MPS from April 2012 to March 2022

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.031401

I note you seek access to the following information:

Please could you tell me:
1. The number of homicides recorded by the force between the 1 April 2012 and the 31 March 2022 which were flagged as hate crimes.
2. Of the homicides flagged as hate crimes, the breakdown of these by strand of hate crime i.e. • Race • Religion • Disability • Sexual orientation • Transgender identity.
(As necessary, please show were more than one hate crime was flagged).

For each homicide, please could you separately provide the following:
1. The date of the homicide.
2. The hate crime flag(s) attached to the homicide.
3. Whether the homicide was charged as murder or a manslaughter.
4. Whether the victim was known to the suspect and relationship type i.e., neighbour, friend, acquaintance, stranger etc.
5. The victim and suspects characteristics: • Age • Ethnicity (both police recorded and self-reported) • Gender • Disability • Nationality • Sexual Orientation. Where there was more than one suspect, please provide:
5a. The total number of suspects for each case.
5b. A return for item 5 for each suspect.
6. Charging decision (yes/no).
7. Criminal justice outcome (convicted/ acquitted).

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 40(2)(a)(b)(3A)(i)) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

Section 40(2)(a)(b)(3A)(i)) – Personal Information - of the Act, public authorities are able to withhold information where its release would identify any living individual and breach the principles of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). I have claimed this exemption as were we to disclose the number of homicides flagged as hate crimes, broken down to the level that you have requested, due to low numbers located this would present a strong risk of identification of individuals which would breach the right to privacy afforded to persons under the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The victims’ families and suspects of these offences would not reasonably expect this information to be published by the MPS and I have found that as no prior consent has been given to release this personal data any release would accordingly be unfair to them. In the case of legitimate processing, it is therefore not appropriate to release this information.

Due to low data, if were we to disclose the requested information broken down to the level you have requested, that disclosure would be likely to lead to the identification of living individuals and therefore such information is considered to be Personal Data.

The disclosure of this personal data would breach the first data protection principle, specified within Article 5(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which requires that personal data shall be: ‘processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency’);’

Processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that at least one of 6 conditions specified under Article 6 of the GDPR are applicable. Article 6, GDPR sets out the six lawful bases, applying to all processing; one of which must be in place in every case of disclosure of personal data under FOIA, in accordance with the First Data Protection Principle.

The disclosure of the personal data contained within the requested information would be unwarranted in the circumstances of this request. This is because the disclosure of this personal data is not necessary to satisfy the legitimate public interest and in relation to personal data, there is no presumption of disclosure. Furthermore, none of the conditions specified within Article 6 of the GDPR would be met. Therefore section 40(2)(3A)(a) is engaged and disclosure cannot be made.

Disclosure

Q1 - The number of homicides recorded by the force between the 1 April 2012 and the 31 March 2022 which were flagged as hate crimes.

In response to your first question, the number of Murders recorded as Hate Crimes by the Metropolitan Police Service between 01/04/2012 and 31/03/2023 is 2.