Religious hate crime reaches record high

RELIGIOUS hate crime recorded by police in England has reached a record high, with the Devon and Cornwall force area having one of the highest rises in incidents, new figures show.

- By HERALD REPORTER

There were 7,164 such offences recorded by forces across England and Wales, excluding the Metropolitan Police, in the year to March, up 3% from 6,973 in the previous 12 months.

This was the highest annual total of these offences recorded, the Home Office said.

The Home Office figures show that Devon & Cornwall police recorded a total of 2,560 hate crime offences in 2024/25, an increase of 409 on 2023/24 figures.

In terms of the number of offences where the motivation was religion, the Devon & Cornwall force area saw a rise of 47 to a total of 173 in 2024/25. For crimes with a motivation of race the recorded figure was up 326 to 1,564.