A series of ‘exceptionally serious’ incidents over the last year has had a significant impact on policing, the Isle of Man highest ranking police officer has said.

In his annual report, which provides an overview of policing on the island over the past 12 months, Isle of Man Constabulary (IOMC) Chief Constable Russell Foster said it had been a challenging year because of a number of high-profile incidents.

These include the death of 14-year-old Christopher McBurnie, who died from a stab wound following an incident in the Close Drean area of Ramsey on May 29 last year. A 14-year-old boy has been charged with murder and is due to stand trial in September.

A week later, police were called to reports of a stabbing at a property in Victoria Avenue, Douglas, on June 6.

Jasmine Amber Elizabeth Cullivan, 33, has since pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and is due to stand trial in November.

Then, over October 5 and 6 last year, two people were attacked in the Port Cornaa and Maughold areas.

Taylor Jake Murphy, 20, has since been charged with wounding with intent to commit murder and two counts of robbery, with the case continuing through the courts.

In the report, Mr Foster said: ‘The performance year 2025-26 has been characterised by a sequence of isolated, but exceptionally serious incidents, which sit outside of the usual crime profile for the Isle of Man.

‘While these incidents were unconnected, taken together they have generated sustained demand, particularly on specialist investigative and safeguarding resources across the Isle of Man Constabulary.

‘During this time, the organisation was required to balance multiple competing priorities while maintaining delivery across core policing functions.’

Overall, recorded crime in 2025-26 fell by 4.5%. However, the detection rate for crimes finalised in the same period dropped from 55.8% to 51.9%.

Mr Foster said further analysis suggested the fall correlated with periods of heightened operational demand during the critical incidents experienced over the year, rather than a decline in investigative effort or focus.

‘Notwithstanding this change, the detection rate remains comparatively strong when viewed alongside other jurisdictions,’ he said.

Mr Foster added that violent crime as a whole had remained stable, but there had been a rise in more serious actual bodily harm offences.

Figures for 2025-26 show overall recorded crime on the island fell from 2,289 to 2,186.

Police detected 1,040 of the 2,002 crimes finalised within the year, equating to a 51.9% detection rate - a drop of 3.9% on the previous year.

Further analysis of the reduction in detections indicated dips in performance coinciding with the serious incidents in May and June.

Total arrests in 2025-26 fell from 2,047 to 1,842, down 10% on the previous year.

There was an increase in arrests for immigration offences, from two in the previous year to 12. Mr Foster said this reflected the creation of a dedicated Immigration Compliance Team.

In the report, Mr Foster said: ‘During 2025-26, the IOMC continued to strengthen its capability to tackle international money laundering and the financing of terrorism through a permanently established specialist financial crime capability.’

The Chief Constable also highlighted the growing role of cryptocurrency, which he said ‘has featured with increasing prevalence across a broad range of investigations, evolving from an opportunistic payment method to a routine component of criminal activity’.

Mr Foster said the IOMC had continued to prioritise the disruption of serious and organised crime despite what he described as ‘sustained operational pressures’.

He said: ‘Activity was deliberately targeted towards high-harm offenders and organised crime groups presenting the greatest risk to the island.

‘This approach delivered significant disruption to drug supply networks and associated money laundering activity. While the overall volume of recorded OCG disruptions reduced from 239 to 85, the quality and impact of disruption activity remained high.’

Mr Foster said the approach had led to a 28% reduction in violent crime linked to drugs, supported by major cross-border investigations, record levels of drug seizures and covert investigative tactics.

Around 33% of the prison population is assessed as having links to organised crime groups, the report says - a significantly higher proportion than in most UK prisons.

Mr Foster said the IOMC had continued to achieve significant reductions in youth offending, which fell from 478 to 414, while the number of reoffending juveniles dropped from 156 to 126.

Christopher McBurnie’s death led to Operation Onyx, which resulted in an increase in proactive stop and search activity and the recovery of knives and stolen property.

Juvenile antisocial behaviour also fell from 513 incidents in 2024-25 to 448 in 2025-26.

Recorded domestic abuse offences fell from 68 to 43 over the last year, but the overall number of crimes linked to domestic incidents rose from 203 to 237.

Mr Foster said this increase reflected a better understanding of the wider impact of domestic abuse and other offences connected to it.

Reports of sexual offences, including rape, fell from 126 in the previous year to 103.

Detection rates for concluded non-rape sexual offence investigations improved from 43.5% to 48.5%, but rape detection rates fell from 11 out of 38 concluded investigations to one out of 13.

Mr Foster said: ‘This reduction is primarily influenced by the smaller number of rape investigations concluded during the year, alongside the inherent evidential challenges associated with serious and often non-recent offending rather than investigative quality.’

During 2025–26, there were 57 ‘killed or seriously injured’ (KSI) collisions recorded by the IOMC. As a result, 60 people sustained serious injuries and three people died.

While the overall number of such collisions increased by one, the number of fatalities fell from five in the previous year to three in 2025-26.