Whilst homicides went up by 8 percent in the whole of England and Wales, in Devon and Cornwall they went down by 6.67 percent.

The Office of National Statistics recorded 15 people dying because of murder or manslaughter in Devon and Cornwall in the 12 months leading up to March 2017, one less than in the previous year.

Police forces in England and Wales recorded 709 homicides in total in the same period, up from 652 the previous year.

Cornwall's rural character could have something to do with the low homicide rate, as the places with the highest rates are generally densely-populated metropolitan areas.

The area with the highest number of people killed in relation to the total population was Greater Manchester, in which there were 19.1 homicides per million people.

On the other end of the spectrum, Gwent in South Wales had the lowest number of homicides with 3.4 per million people.

The average rate of homicides was 10.5 per million people, and Devon and Cornwall came in below it at 8.7 per million.

71 percent of people killed were men, and 29 percent were women, and whilst around half of the women were killed by a partner, men were most likely to be killed by a friend or acquaintance.

Most of the people who died because of homicide were killed in or around their house, although 20 percent of men were killed in the streets.

The majority of children and under 16s who died because of homicide were killed by parents or step-parents.