MEMBERS of a national charity have urged people in Gloucestershire to report incidents of hate crime after a sharp rise in the past year.

Independent charity Crimestoppers has seen an 88 per cent increase in reports nationally during May to September 2017 (an average of 15 per month).

This has risen sharply from eight each month from December 2016 to April 2017.

It is now urging the public, in National Hate Crime Week to continue to speak out about those who commit hate crimes in a bid to stamp it out.

Hate crime is thought to be massively under-reported, Crimestoppers feels that many people accept some incidents as ‘part of life’ and do not realise that the abuse they are suffering is a crime.

It states that people may also mistakenly believe that nothing will be done about it.

Incidents can be motivated by race, religion, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.

Victims may be subjected to physical assaults or suffer damage to their property.

They may also experience the threat of an attack or verbal abuse.

Tony Butler, Crimestoppers Gloucestershire committee chairperson, said that one incident of hate crime is too many.

“It is totally unacceptable to attack or threaten anyone because they identify as a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, or have a disability,”

“National Hate week is an opportunity to tackle this crime head-on and highlight the personal damage that this terrible crime causes to the victims. “One incident is one too many.

“We want to stamp this out and we would urge anyone who has information about the perpetrators of this crime to contact us anonymously.

“We understand it’s not easy to step up and report someone, especially if they’re a close friend or family member, but we do not take personal details and we can’t trace information given on the phone or online.

“No-one will ever know you contacted us.

“You’ll never have to give a statement to police or appear in court.

“We don’t want to know who you are, just what you know.”

As part of the week-long activity, Crimestoppers is supporting the Gloucestershire Hate Crime Roadshow that will aim to raise awareness in a number of areas including Gloucester Quays, Newent Marketplace, Tewkesbury and Cheltenham.

The main feature of the programme will be a Cheltenham Together public debate on tolerance at the council chamber in the municipal offices on The Promenade from 6.45pm to 8.30pm on Wednesday evening.

The title of the debate is “Is toleration of ‘other’ still a British value?”

For more information call Bernice Thomson on 01242 692112, or email Bernice.thomson@cwep.co.uk.

If you have any information about hate crime, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or through the Anonymous Online Form at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.