Hate crime figures at an all-time high, say West Mercia Police

Though the number is down on the same month last year, the number of hate crimes recorded by West Mercia Police reached an all-time high in 2016.

After the Brexit referendum, where Britain voted to leave the EU, West Mercia saw its highest level of crimes with a range of "aggravating factors" including race, disability, sexual orientation or hate this summer.

New figures, breaking down the number of hate crimes month-on-month under West Mercia show that in July there were 112 crimes of this nature in the force covering Shropshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

Figures, revealed through Freedom of Information requests, showed between May 23 to July 23, it recorded 219 crimes with a range of "aggravating factors".

A total of 74 of those were reported in Shropshire and Telford, including two assaults with injury reported in Telford, and a third in Shrewsbury.

In December, police recorded 44 hate crimes, classed as any criminal offence perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice, down from 59 in December 2015.

The 2016 figures are only a snapshot of the situation as they were correlated before the end of the month.

In November, a man was arrested after a Polish student Bartosz Milewski, 21, was struck in the neck with a broken bottle in a suspected race attack after he was approached by a group of three men in a park in Telford.

He was with friends in St Matthew's Road, Donnington, when they were approached by the group who objected to them speaking in Polish.

Mr Milewski left Poland aged 14 when his family relocated to the Telford area.

He had only just returned from a summer exchange visit in the US when the incident happened.

Police have previously said that tackling hate crime is a "top priority".

Back in October a series of events were organised as part of Hate Crime Awareness Week 2016.

Chief Inspector Sarah Chaloner said: "Hate crime is everyone's problem.

"It has a huge impact on society as whole and this is why it is important that everyone plays their part to stop it."

Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Tracey Onslow said "We're all very clear that hate crime will not be tolerated. Knowing the scale of the problem is the first step.

"It is a clear part of Crime Commissioner John Campion's plan to encourage hate crime reporting and ensure victims get the support they need to cope and recover."