Partners or ex-partners killed two-thirds of Scotland’s female homicide victims

For ten of the fifteen women killed in Scotland’s latest homicide figures, the person accused of killing them was a current or former partner. That concentration of deaths within intimate relationships is the starkest finding in a year when the national homicide toll rose, even as it remained well below the levels recorded two decades ago. ¹²

Partners or ex-partners accounted for two-thirds of female victims in 2025-26—the highest share since relationship records began in 2006, according to BBC Scotland. The Scottish Government’s published summary confirms the count of ten women out of fifteen, though it does not reproduce the historical relationship series behind that record comparison. ^{1 12}

This is a record proportion, not a record number of women killed. Nor does it measure how widespread domestic abuse is across Scotland. What it establishes is narrower and deeply consequential: among the women whose deaths entered these homicide statistics, the most common relationship to the accused was an intimate one.

The figures, published by the Scottish Government on 27 October 2026, cover homicides recorded by police in Scotland during 2025-26. There were nine more victims than the previous year’s latest total of 47. Yet 56 was still the fourth-lowest annual toll since comparable overall records began in 1976. The relationship records and the overall homicide series have different starting points; the two historical claims should not be confused. ^{2 1}

Scotland’s longer trajectory is a substantial reduction in lives lost. Police recorded 121 homicide victims in 2006-07, compared with 56 in 2025-26—a fall of 65 deaths, or 54%. Against the 65 victims recorded in 2016-17, the latest total was nine lower, a reduction of 14%. ¹²

The annual increase and the longer decline are both real. A rise of almost a fifth from a record low does not, by itself, establish that decades of progress have reversed. Equally, a historically low national total is not a reason to look past nine additional deaths or the circumstances in which women were killed.

The strongest age-related improvement was among people aged 16 to 24. Across the five years from 2006-07 to 2010-11, there were 113 victims in that age group; across 2021-22 to 2025-26, there were 28. That is a reduction of about 75%, comparing two five-year totals—not a 75% fall in the latest year. These figures demonstrate the scale of the change, but do not identify which interventions caused it. ¹²

There is an unresolved change in the baseline for the latest annual rise. On 28 October 2025, the government announced 45 victims for 2024-25. Its October 2026 release uses 47 for that same year. The newer figure supersedes the earlier one for the current comparison, but the published material examined does not explain the difference. The reported 19% increase therefore means 56 against 47, not against the originally announced 45. ^{9 2}

Men accounted for most homicide victims: 41 of the 56, or 73% after rounding. Fifteen victims were female, accounting for 27%. But the leading relationship category differed sharply. An acquaintance was recorded in the deaths of 27 of the 41 male victims, or 66%; BBC Scotland describes that category as a friend or acquaintance. For women, partners or ex-partners accounted for ten of fifteen deaths, or 67%. Each percentage describes its own group of victims, not the entire homicide toll. ^{12 1}

Sharp instruments were the main method of killing for 29 victims, or 52%, and have been the leading method in each of the past twenty years. This is broader than a count of knife killings: the statistical category also includes broken bottles, swords, sharpened screwdrivers and other pointed or edged weapons. Calling all 29 deaths knife killings would claim more than the classification establishes. ²

The release records 81 people accused of homicide—75 male and six female, equivalent to 93% and 7% after rounding. Some incidents involved several accused people, while no incident in 2025-26 had more than one victim. The accused total is therefore not a separate death toll, and accusation is not a finding of guilt. ^{12 1}

The government also says the associated case was recorded as solved for every one of the 56 victims. That is not a report that all 81 accused people have been convicted. The latest summary neither defines the precise statistical meaning of “solved” nor establishes individual court outcomes. A case’s recorded status and the outcome of a prosecution must remain separate. ²

The local picture needs similar care. BBC Scotland’s report of 27 October lists twelve homicides in Glasgow City and five each in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh, but explicitly labels those council figures 2024-25. That year label has not been reconciled against a primary local-authority table. Those counts cannot safely be used to map where the latest year’s 56 deaths occurred. ¹

Responding to the finding about female victims, Justice Secretary Neil Gray said it reinforced the government’s “absolute determination” to tackle violence against women and girls, BBC Scotland reported. The broadcaster also recalled First Minister John Swinney’s earlier description of that violence as a “national emergency”. These are statements of the government’s position, not statistical evidence that any particular policy has succeeded or failed. ¹

The figures leave Scotland with two truths to confront, rather than a choice between a reassuring story and an alarming one. Far fewer people are being killed than twenty years ago. But that national progress coexists with a concentration of women’s deaths within current or former partnerships. A lower homicide total over decades is an important achievement; it is not the same thing as safety from someone close to you.