Scotland’s top police officer is backing calls for minimum pricing and restricting access to alcohol following 14 drink-fuelled murders in the last two months.

Steve House, Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police, revealed that since April 1 his force has had to deal with 18 homicides, almost half the total for all of the previous year, with all but four drink related.

Mr House said that in many cases both the perpetrator and the victim were drunk and the attacks were mostly after alcohol had been consumed at home or house parties.

Cheap vodka, according to the Chief Constable, is significant in violence aggravated by alcohol, something he expects to see more of during the forthcoming World Cup.

Mr House made his comments ahead of a meeting with Labour MSPs, who remain opposed to minimum pricing.

He revealed the figures to his governing body, adding that if he had a magic wand the one issue he’d wave away would be drink.

His comments also came as the west of Scotland dealt with the aftermath of several days of alcohol-fuelled violence.

Yesterday a 35-year-old man appeared in court over the death of Christopher Ferns, 30, who died after an incident involving tonic wine in Dunoon, while a man was stabbed after he was attacked by a group of men who jumped out of a minibus and chased him through Glasgow city centre early on Sunday.

Two men were also stabbed after a fight broke out between two groups of people in Glasgow’s Bridgeton, on Sunday, while a 22-year-old man was slashed in an altercation in Pollokshaws on Friday night.

Yesterday, Mr House lent his support to calls for minimum pricing, expressing his frustration at the politicisation of the issue, and said other options worth considering would be limiting the supply of alcohol by cutting the number of off-sales.

He said: “Since April 1 we have had 18 homicides. That’s an abnormally high rate. All 18 have been detected. But of these, alcohol played a role in 14.

“There have been several high-profile homicides which have not been stranger attacks but what we term relationship homicides.

“But what we also have is another pattern where drink is involved. Do I believe pricing in supermarkets and off-sales chains plays a role? Yes. We need to raise the cost of alcohol. It would be crazy not to. It may not work on its own and if it doesn’t then try something else.”

“It may need to work in tandem with advertising campaigns or limiting access.”

He also suggested measures including “allowing fewer places to sell alcohol or restricting the number of off-sales licences.

“The bottom line is that the reason we have such a high murder rate is that people are drinking too much, in terms of the offender and the victim.”

The shock statistics come after the publication of the force’s annual report which showed a 26% reduction in murders across Strathclyde and attempted murders falling by 15%.

During the last financial year there were 44 murders in Strathclyde, 16 fewer than the year before and 26 lower than the previous five year average. Attempted murders, at 291, were also down by more than one fifth on the five-year average and more than 15% down on 2008/2009.

Dr Evelyn Gillan, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said Scots were consuming the equivalent of 46 bottles of vodka a year, that one in two prisoners in Scotland’s jails were drunk at the time of the offence and that 70% of assaults presenting at A&E are alcohol-related.

She said: “Alcohol is a depressant and drinking excessively increases the risk that people will get involved in situations that they wouldn’t normally.

“For some people, it can make them more likely to commit acts of violence which could result in murder – destroying not only their own life but the lives of the family and friends of the victim.

“Statistics like this add weight to the case for imposing controls on the price and availability of alcohol.”

A Scottish Government spokesman, said: “If we successfully tackle Scotland’s drinking culture we can significantly reduce the number of people who get caught up in violent crime.

“That is why we have outlined 41 measures to rebalance Scotland’s relationship with alcohol – measures that includes minimum pricing which modelling has shown will reduce offences.”