Religious hate crime has rocketed by 40 per cent in a year across England and Wales, as the number of offences recorded hits a record high.
Statistics released by the Home Office showed more than half of religiously-motivated attacks in 2017-18 were directed at Muslims and the next most commonly targeted group was Jewish people.
Police recorded a total of 94,098 hate crime offences – more than double the total five years ago – and all categories saw a rise.
“This increase is thought to be largely driven by improvements in police recording, although there has been spikes in hate crime following certain events such as the EU referendum and the terrorist attacks in 2017,” the Home Office document said.
“It is thought that the sharp increase in religious hate crimes is due to a rise in these offences following the terrorist attacks in 2017.”
Source: Independent
