London’s most crime-infested neighbourhoods can today be exposed, as damning figures show thefts, assaults, and drug offenses have hit all-time highs under Mayor Sadiq Khan’s watch.
MailOnline can reveal Leicester Square, Covent Garden and the surrounding tourist-laden area is the hotspot for violent and sex crime.
In total, there were 1,302 attacks, rapes, or sexual assaults in the tiny Westminster district in 2024. It equated to a rate of 1,645 violent crimes per 100 acres – the highest across the capital.
The same neighborhood, home to luxury hotels, acclaimed restaurants, and high-end boutiques, also topped the table for drug-related crimes, which can include simple possession of cannabis to bustings of multi-million-pound dealing operations.
Our analysis, consisting of the near-5,000 districts dotted across London’s 32 boroughs, discovered a small zone straddling Oxford Street and parts of Soho tops the table for thefts.
Almost 6,150 thefts were recorded last year in that small sector, a hotbed of scooter-riding phone snatchers who grab devices from unsuspecting shoppers and zoom off. It equated to a rate of 8,450 thefts per 100 acres.
It comes as figures show all three categories of crimes have soared to record levels since Mr Khan was elected in 2016, although drug offences appear to be on the decline in what critics of the Labour Mayor have called ‘Lawless London’.
Teenagers have been stabbed in broad daylight, rampaging youths have hijacked police cars and brazen thieves have snatched smartphones in tourist hotspots.
Powered with official statistics, our map breaks down crime rates by ‘Lower layer Super Output Areas’ (LSOAs) — communities consisting of around 1,000 to 3,000 people.
The darker the red, the higher the crime rate per 100 acres.
All alleged crimes reported to either the Metropolitan or City of London police forces and given a crime number are included in our database, regardless of whether anyone was arrested or jailed.
Offences committed on trains, buses and trams, or at train and underground stations, are excluded because they’re dealt with by the British Transport Police, rather than the local force.
Pop-ups on our interactive map are named by the electoral ward within the capital’s 32 boroughs.
Neighbouring areas may appear with the same name but have different statistics. That is because each ward might have numerous LSOAs.
For example, there are six St James’s within Westminster.
Yet the zone technically called E01004734 is the top that tops the charts for violent and sex crimes.
Crowds swarmed police patrol vehicles, as at least 10 boys, some wearing stolen police uniforms, hijacked an emergency vehicle in Broadwick Street, Soho on February 22 after a marketing stunt gone wrong
An 11-year-old girl and her mother were rushed to hospital after they were stabbed in Leicester Square last August in broad daylight. A man was charged with attempted murder in connection with the alleged attack.
Last July, two men attending a thousands-strong Tommy Robinson rally were arrested after allegedly attacking a counter-protester at Victoria Embankment Gardens, another area covered within the zone.
There was fury at the Met Police last month after officers failed to refused to take action against Gen Z yobs terrorising bystanders and hijacking police cars after a streetwear marketing stunt gone wrong on Carnaby Street in Soho, on Saturday, February 22.
A 2-acre section of Croydon, just a short walk from West Croydon station, ranked second in that category, with the equivalent of 1,580 per 100 acres. The area, which despite amassing a high rate only logged 33 crimes, includes a few blocks of flats as well as the headquarters of HM Land Registry.
In terms of thefts, Oxford Street was the worst offender, with all sections of the famous retail hub appearing at the top of the list.
The zone called E01004763 technically topped the list, but other neighbourhoods featuring sections of the famed shopping highway had rates of 4,700, 3,810 and 2,440 per 100 acres.
Moment the bike thief snatches the phone on his e-bike near Oxford Circus tube stationÂ
Locals say this area near Covent Garden is one of the main ‘hotspots’ for people take drugs like heroin, crack, opiates and meth
Last September, video caught the moment a brazen phone snatcher on an e-bike stole a woman’s phone in Oxford Street in broad daylight.
Footage filmed by an internet streamer showed the woman standing close to a tube exit on her way to work looking at her phone, before the thief silently approached and grabbed the phone before escaping.
Camden Town and Market comes in second for drug-related crimes, followed by the area east of Tottenham Court Road, which includes Seven Dials Market.
MailOnline revealed last week how a community right next to Covent Garden was plagued by drug dealers who set up a crack-den.
‘Crackpipes and paraphernalia’ have been left littering the street next to flats that sell for £2.2million, residents and businesses on Parker Street have said it is a ‘dystopia’.
