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SCOTLAND is losing the battle to shake off its culture of violence according to new figures which show the country has one of the highest murder rates in Europe.

People in Scotland are twice as likely to meet violent deaths as their neighbours south of the Border.

The figures from Britain's 51 police forces show that the four areas where people are most likely to die at the hands of another person are in Scotland.

The alarming findings have prompted the Government to order an urgent investigation into the violent trend.

Two leading researchers have been asked to examine why some areas are more prone to killings than others. A survey of murder, culpable homicide, manslaughter and infanticide statistics for Britain's police areas shows that Central Scotland, even discounting the 17 victims of the Dunblane massacre, has the highest rate per head of population, with 29.2 killings per million people.

Tayside, Northern Scotland and Strathclyde have the next highest figures, more than any area of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Criminologist Professor Keith Soothill of Lancaster University and statistics expert Brian Francis will spend six months researching the reasons for the difference in the number of killings between various areas of the country.