HOMICIDES hit a record low in Scotland last year just as alcohol consumption and knife crime slumped.

HOMICIDES hit a record low in Scotland last year just as alcohol consumption and knife crime slumped.

New figures show there were 61 killings in 2013-14, fewer than half as many as in the mid-1990s and two fewer than a year earlier.

Politicians quickly seized on the new numbers as evidence for the general decline in violent crime and Scotland's once notorious booze and blades culture.

Police sources urged caution because homicide figures can jump up and down quickly. A single family destroyer - a father who kills his wife and children - could reverse the most recent gains.

But the figures, nevertheless, remain the lowest since 1976, when current records begin, and come as recorded crime, hospital statistics and survey evidence strong corroborate declining violence.

Karyn McLuskey, of Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit, said:

"We need to be careful with crime stats. We are talking about numbers that describe often the worst event that's ever happened to a person.

"There's no unique correlation between reductions in violence and an intervention - no one thing made difference, it takes everything and everyone."

Ms McLuskey stressed, however, that tackling violence in relationships was crucial to bringing down the homicide rate. She said: "We cannot prevent violence and murder without eradicating domestic violence.

"It's our most wicked problem."

As in previous years most killings, nearly two out of three took place in a home. In seven out of 10 cases the victim know his or her killer.

Police have solved all but one of the killings - a key achievement of the new single force amid previous concerns that homicide investigations were stronger in some parts of the country than others.

Half of all the 88 people accused of homicide during the year were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the offence. Scottish alcohol consumption, according to figures revealed yesterday, fell by the equivalent of 38 million pints a year since 2009, according to separate numbers issued yesterday. Alcohol-related hospital admissions were down a quarter in less than a decade.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said: "It is concerning that alcohol and drugs continue to be factors in over half of homicides and is another stark reminder of the devastating social harm these substances can cause. This is one reason why we are continuing in our efforts to encourage people to drink less alcohol, maintaining our commitment to introduce minimum pricing, and to tackle the scourge of cheap, strong alcohol. Our national drugs strategy is also having an effect and problem drug use is also falling, particularly amongst young people.

"We will not be complacent though. This Government is constantly looking at new ways to reduce knife crime even further by changing the culture on young people carrying knives through education."

Mr Matheson stressed government efforts to tackle domestic abuse as the statistics showed that two-thirds of women who died in homicide cases were the victims of a partner or an ex-partner.

Crucially, only one homicide case in 2013-14 involved more than one death. There have only been ten multiple victim cases in the last nine years. Only 13 murders took place outdoors in the year.