Hard to solve homicides: Practitioner perspectives from England and Wales

This study explores practitioners’ perspectives on which types of homicide cases are most difficult to solve and why. The study draws on qualitative data from 31 semi-structured interviews conducted between July 2023 and March 2025 across five police forces and additional national stakeholder organizations in England and Wales. Participants included serving and retired senior homicide detectives, Crown Prosecution Service prosecutors, crime registrars, crime analysts, and national-level policy representatives. Thematic analysis was used to identify recurring patterns in participants’ accounts. Three types of homicide were perceived as particularly difficult to solve: gang-related homicides, delayed-death homicides, and equivocal deaths—cases in which the mode of death (natural, accidental, suicide or homicide) cannot readily be determined. Participants described distinct investigative challenges associated with each type, including limited witness cooperation, evidentiary uncertainty, and difficulties in case classification. The findings highlight how investigative difficulty is shaped not only by inherent case characteristics but also by organizational responses and resource constraints, suggesting a need for improvements in early investigative protocols and specialist forensic capacity.