A LANCASHIRE murder is among 120 killings which Metropolitan police believe could be a so-called 'honour killing'.

But Scotland Yard was today staying tight-lipped on the identity of the case that is being re-examined.

A spokesman for the Met said: "We are not going to be discussing individual cases at this time. We are just breaking them down into geographical areas as it is in the very early stages. We can only confirm that a case from Lancashire from the past 10 years is being looked at."

Detectives hope that taking a fresh look at the crimes - almost all of which have already been solved - will help them learn more about the scale and nature of 'honour killings'.

Many of those who died were women who had been involved in relationships which their family felt brought dishonour on them, the Met spokesman said.

A large proportion came from south Asian communities, but others were of African, Arabic or eastern European origin, he added.

Some of the crimes were carried out by contract killers, and others involved so-called "bounty hunters" who specialise in tracking down victims. A total of 117 cases from England and Wales - 52 in London and 65 elsewhere - are being revisited.

The re-examination is part of a wider project to increase understanding of honour killings, which involves police forces across Europe.

The spokesman added: "We want to try to see what the scale of the problem is across Europe, and also to see how other countries deal with it. This is a learning process.

"The research as a whole is trying to identify trends across all the different cases."

Ram Gidoomal, of the UK's South Asian Development Partnership, called for police to work alongside social services to prevent killings, and said: "I would like to see what action has been taken already - it is not as if we have just been made aware of this issue."