- Nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel of Liverpool was killed on Monday 22 August by an attacker who broke into her home and shot blindly
- It was Liverpool’s third homicide in just 48 hours.
- In Britain, newspapers are flooded with murder stories: 87-year-old Thomas O’Halloran died in London on August 16 in an electric wheelchair
- In turn, on the night of Saturday, August 20 to Sunday, August 21, 28-year-old Ashley Lyne was fatally shot in the garden behind her house.
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
After a wave of high-profile killings over the past few days involving completely random people, the media has been asking questions about whether the UK is becoming a lawless country.
He broke into her house and fired blindly
The circumstances of the death of the girl killed on Monday, August 22, are extremely tragic – a man escaping from an armed attacker broke into her house, and the one who pursued him tried to break in behind him. Olivia’s mother tried to close the door, but the attacker managed to put his hand in which he was holding the pistol and started firing blindly, hitting the woman, the girl standing behind her, and the possibly wanted man.
It was Liverpool’s third homicide in 48 hours. – That same evening, a woman in her 50s was fatally stabbed, possibly as a result of an argument in a pub, and on Saturday night in the garden behind her house, 28-year-old Ashley Lyne was shot. She, too, was an accidental victim. Moreover, it later turned out that her half-brother, 16-year-old Lewis Dunne, was shot seven years ago – also by accident – because the killers mistook him for a member of a rival gang.
Not only Liverpool
Another unprovoked murder took place last Tuesday in London – 44-year-old Lee Byer attacked 87-year-old Thomas O’Halloran on a sidewalk on an electric wheelchair in the middle of the day with a knife, stabbing him many times in the neck, chest and stomach. It was the fifth homicide in London in four days.
The murder of the famous cousin also echoed loudly boxer Tyson Furywhich happened on Saturday night in Manchester. Rico Burton, 31, was fatally stabbed. In connection with this case, two suspects, aged 21 and 20, were arrested. After this incident, Fury called for stricter penalties for crimes involving the use of knives, because it is such incidents that become a real scourge in the UK.
140 homicides more than a year ago
In the period of 12 months from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, 710 homicides were recorded in England and Wales, which is a significant increase, by as many as 140 events compared to the previous year.
Experts note, however, that the lower statistics there was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions in social contacts in force at that time. During the four years leading up to the pandemic, the number was recorded homicides it remained at the level of around 700 per year, while in the five even earlier years – from 2011-12 – it was around 550 per year.
It is worth noting, however, that the current homicide statistics are still significantly lower than those at the beginning of the 21st century – in 2002-03 their number was 1047.
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