London can today be revealed as the 15th most dangerous city for crime in Europe as concerns continue to mount over a growing epidemic of violence, theft and robbery.
The capital, which is also the 100th worst out of 385 locations around the world, is less safe than rival European cities from Athens to Brussels and Milan to Barcelona.
London is also worse than major US cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Dallas as well as other global destinations from Cancun to Cairo and Bali to Bangalore.
The city is however only the fifth worst UK location for crime – behind Bradford, Coventry, Birmingham and Manchester, according to Numbeo’s Crime Index.
The data, which is compiled from global survey responses and has been updated regularly since 2012, ranks London particularly badly for four categories out of 15.
These are the capital’s ‘level of crime’; ‘crime increasing in the past five years’; ‘problem people using or dealing drugs’; and ‘safety walking alone during night’.
It comes amid outrage after veteran broadcaster Selina Scott, 74, revealed she was viciously attacked and robbed in broad daylight in Piccadilly earlier this month.
The stalwart of British TV was leaving a Waterstones shop on June 17 when she was struck on the back of her right knee, leaving her feeling as if she had been ‘stabbed’.
She was set upon by a gang who attempted to grab her backpack. Fighting back, she kept hold of the bag – but one of the thieves unzipped it and took her purse before running off. Ms Scott lost her bank cards, driving licence and cash in the robbery.
Click on a circle on the map above to reveal the Numbeo Crime Index ranking, and drag the map around to see other countries. A low crime index figure and a high safety index figure are good
The Numbeo index also deems a series of issues in London as ‘moderate’ – including concerns over stealing, robbery, car theft, being attacked or facing a racist assault.
But London is seen as safer than ten cities in other European countries, including seven in France – Paris, Lyon, Nantes, Marseille, Grenoble, Nice and Montpellier. The other three locations are Naples in Italy, Liege in Belgium and Malmo in Sweden.
The Crime Index takes into account survey responses covering five areas: general perception of crime levels; perceived safety during daylight and nighttime; concerns about specific crimes; property crime severity; and violent crime severity.
The index is seen as a respected comparative tool because government crime data in different countries can often be patchy or withheld for political or social reasons.
Five of the world’s eight most dangerous cities are in South Africa – comprising Durban, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Pietermaritzburg, which is first.
Also in the global top ten are Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea; Caracas in Venezuela; San Pedro Sula in Honduras; Memphis in the US and Salvador in Brazil.
Five of the six safest cities are in the United Arab Emirates – comprising Sharjah, Ras al-Khaimah, Dubai, Ajman and Abu Dhabi, which is the safest place in the world.
In London, the robbery and assault of Ms Scott by an organised gang is another incident raising questions about the Metropolitan Police’s failure to robustly tackle such crimes amid a 24 per cent increase in similar thefts in the last year alone.
Veteran broadcaster Selina Scott was attacked and robbed by an organised gang in London
The bus stop next to Waterstones on Piccadilly in London where Ms Scott was attacked
Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan (centre) during a visit to Stratford with police in October 2022
Matt Goodwin, senior visiting professor of politics at the University of Buckingham, wrote in the Daily Mail last week: ‘London is over. It’s so over.’
He cited data showing that more than 70,000 phones were stolen in London last year, and there were 90,000 shoplifting offences in the capital, up 54 per cent.
Professor Goodwin added that there is now an alleged rape every hour in London – and reported sexual offences against women and girls has risen 14 per cent in five years, while homelessness and rough sleeping increased 26 per cent in one year.
Meanwhile a policing expert told MailOnline that the incident involving former ITN News At Ten anchor Ms Scott showed London had become a ‘crime-ridden cesspit’.
Ex-New Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley said the force was now so stretched in the West End that private security companies were being deployed to help.
He condemned the ‘epidemic of crime’ in London from pickpocketing to violence and fare evasion to robbery, adding that it was ‘driving people away’ from the capital.
Mr Bleksley, known for Channel 4 reality show Hunted, told MailOnline that the ‘once iconic’ city was ‘absolutely plagued’ by crime and urged visitors to avoid getting their phones out in public and leave any expensive watches or handbags at home.
An example of phone snatching in London where moped riders steal them from people’s hands
A woman’s phone is snatched from her hand next to the Oxford Circus junction in London
He recently visited Krakow, Milan, Rome and Naples – known for its Camorra mafia and criminal underworld – and felt far safer in all four cities compared to London.
Meanwhile Conservative politicians have called on Labour Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan to do more to address growing concerns about the spiralling crime rates in the capital.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told MailOnline: ‘What happened to Selina Scott is horrifying but sadly, the public have come to expect these sorts of cases in Sadiq Khan’s lawless London.
‘Criminal gangs are acting with impunity while the Met Police are warning they will have to lose 1,700 officers due to the Labour Government’s inadequate police funding settlement. Labour are presiding over a breakdown of law and order.
‘We need a zero tolerance crackdown where every single crime is investigated and prosecuted where a perpetrator can be found. This includes using facial recognition from CCTV cameras to catch suspects.
‘Barely over five per cent of all crimes in London are prosecuted which is totally unacceptable. Mayor Sadiq Khan, who oversees the police in London, needs to spend less time on politically correct virtue signalling and more time catching criminals, in an urgent zero tolerance crackdown.’
And Susan Hall, Conservative group leader at City Hall, told MailOnline: ‘Our thoughts are with Selina and we hope she is able to make a full recovery.
‘This horrific experience not only demonstrates the brazenness of London’s criminals under this Mayor, it also highlights how badly Khan has let public safety and spaces degrade.
‘This comes before his reckless police cuts truly start to bite – with 3,300 Met Police staff at risk – which will only exacerbate this horrendous situation.
‘He needs to pull his head out of the sand and get a grip on this before more people are harmed or worse.’
Ms Scott, who spends most of her time on her 200-acre estate in North Yorkshire, said she was attacked by ‘around seven or eight’ smartly dressed men and women, who appeared to be of East Asian origin.
She told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I still feel shattered after what has happened. I can’t believe it happened to me.
‘I’m mentally resilient and physically fit, but if they can attack me in such a brazen way they can attack anyone. You’re left feeling not just traumatised but stupid that you have somehow let it happen.
‘I’m also furious about the lack of police on our streets. No wonder the gang who set about me have a sense of impunity – they can do anything they want because they know no one will stop them.’
She did not require medical attention but suffered severe bruising to her leg in the assault. ‘I am now only too relieved it wasn’t a knife they used,’ she added.
‘I was constantly aware I should not get my phone out on the street – as more than 70,000 were stolen last year’, writes Matt Goodwin
Thieves jump over the store counter at an Asda petrol station in Battersea in December 2024
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘While we understand that the victim in this case was frustrated that she couldn’t see any police officers on the street at the time of the incident, we would like to reassure her and the wider public that a significant number of officers patrol the West End every day to target offenders, including those carrying out thefts and robberies.
‘They patrol not just in uniform on foot, but also in plain clothes and in vehicles to have the best opportunity to identify and apprehend suspects.
‘We would be happy to talk to the victim in this case to better understand her concerns.’
Speaking about what the force is doing in relation to violent crime, a Met spokeswoman added: ‘Tackling violent crime in all its forms is a key priority and we are determined to crack down on robberies, which can so often have a significant and traumatic impact on victims.
‘Across London, both uniform and plain clothes officers proactively patrol robbery hotspots to identify, apprehend and deter potential offenders. We also have dedicated teams that target repeat offenders.
‘Incidents of neighbourhood crime, which includes offences such as robbery, theft from a person and shoplifting, have reduced by 18.6 per cent compared to the same period last year. Over the past 15 months, we have also increased our arrests per month by ten per cent.
‘Our focus on tackling these crimes will continue throughout the summer, using ward-level data and intelligence to really make a difference in key areas.’
And a spokeswoman for Sir Sadiq told MailOnline: ‘The previous government chronically underfunded the Met, making cuts to policing in London that were in real terms equivalent to more than £1.1billion.
‘These drastic cuts resulted in the loss of thousands of officer posts and the closure of dozens of police buildings across the city as the Met tried to make ends meet.
‘Since coming to office in 2016, Sadiq has done everything in his power to support our police.
‘This year alone he is providing £1.16billion investment for the Met to protect neighbourhood policing in our communities, secure 935 frontline police officer posts and significantly reduce the level of cuts the Met had been planning. This is double the amount provided by his predecessor as Mayor.
‘The Met will publish a new Estates Strategy this summer, setting out its plans for providing the right amount and quality of buildings needed to deliver a new Met for London. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime will scrutinise this carefully.
‘However, the Mayor is under no illusions that there could be further difficult decisions to make and will continue to work with the new government to ensure the Met gets the sustainable funding it needs to help us to build a safer London for everyone.’
The Mayor’s team added that City Hall was working closely with the Met Police to ‘tackle the scourge of phone thefts in London’ amid his concerns that it is ‘simply too easy and profitable for criminals to repurpose and sell on stolen phones’.
Nearly 40 per cent of such thefts are happening in the West End and Westminster – where police patrols and plain-clothed operations have been increased, the spokesman said.
