'Troubling' fall in hate crime prosecutions despite spike in reports after Brexit

Fewer people were prosecuted for hate crimes last year despite a spike in reported incidents around the EU referendum, new figures have revealed.

A total of 14,480 hate crime prosecutions were completed across England and Wales during 2016/17, down 6.2 per cent from 15,442 in the previous year.

The dip in the number of alleged offenders pursued through courts was described as "troubling" by the chair of Parliament's home affairs committee and is likely to prompt fresh scrutiny of authorities' handling of complaints.

Hate crime cover offences perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity.

Figures on the number of offences over the full 12 months have not yet been published but specific stats revealed a sharp rise in the number of racially or religiously aggravated offences in the weeks following the Brexit vote in June.

In London for example, reports of hate crimes soared by 20 per cent between April and June last year. Police forces in other parts of the country logged a 50 per cent increase in the same period.

The Metropolitan Police said this week that reports of all forms of hate crimes except those targeting disabled people had risen in the past 12 months. Islamophobic hate crime increased the sharpest, by 21.5 per cent to 1,642 offences.

In a new report, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) noted a small increase of 0.7 per cent in the number of hate crime cases referred by police nationwide in 2016/17, compared with the previous year.

However, this slight rise followed a 9.6 per cent drop in referrals from 2014/15 to 2015/16.

Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders said: "The drop in referrals recorded last year has impacted on the number of completed prosecutions in 2016/17 and we are working with the police at a local and national level to understand the reasons for the overall fall in referrals in the past two years."

Reports of hate incidents also spiked around terror attacks hit Britain in 2017, although any impact of these rises on prosecution figures will not be clear until data for the current financial year are published.

Hate crime reports to police have generally returned to more typical levels relatively quickly after spikes around major events.

The report also highlighted how sentences for hate crimes were "uplifted" following applications by prosecutors in a record 6,306 cases.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper, who chairs the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said: "It is welcome that hate crime is being met with tougher sentences. But it is very troubling that prosecutions are falling even though reported hate crime is going up."

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "All forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable and the UK has some of the strongest laws in the world to tackle it.

"We are clear that the cowards who commit these hateful attacks should feel the full force of the law."

The latest figures on hate crimes recorded by police will be published on Tuesday.

Their release comes during National Hate Crime Awareness Week. Met officers are holding a series of public events in London to raise awareness of offences.

Chief Superintendent Dave Stringer said: "London is such a diverse and tolerant city, but too many still feel marginalised, or worse intimidated to go about their daily lives due to their race, faith, sexual orientation, gender or disability.

"This is an opportunity for officers to continue raising awareness of hate crime and encourage victims to come forward. However we know that all hate crime is under reported which is why we will continue to work hard to gain the trust and confidence of all communities so victims feel they can come forward."