The number of reported hate crimes in Northern Ireland fell this year.

There were more instances of racially-motivated hate crime than sectarian in Northern Ireland over the past year, a report from the Public Prosecution Service shows.

Of 335 files received by the PPS in 2017/18, 38.5% of them were racially motivated while 24.8% were sectarian.

Faith and homophobic attacks each made up 12.2% of the reported figures, while multiple motivations made up 8.1%. Attacks motivated by disability accounted for 4.2% of the cases.

There was a decrease in the amount of cases reported to the PPS, down from 386 to 335. 573 cases were received by the PPS in 2015/16.

The PSNI defines hate crime as "any crime, which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person".

The majority of cases involved violent crime (62.4%) but the number of violent offences fell by 11.4% from 236 to 209.

Ten out of 13 defendants dealt with in the crown court in relation to hate crimes were convicted, while the conviction rate in magistrates and youth courts was 67.4%.

The PPS’s head of policy and information, Dr Richard Scullion, said the organisation was determined to bring the perpetrators of hate crime to justice.

“These are distressing cases in which victims suffer simply because of their race, religion, sexual orientation or disability," he said.

“The Public Prosecution Service understands the devastating effect hate crime has not just on the lives of its victims, but also the wider community.

"That is why we work hard to ensure the public can have confidence in the PPS playing its important role in the Criminal Justice System’s handling of these types of offences.

“We are fully committed to continuing our strong partnership working with the PSNI, and other agencies, to ensure that perpetrators of hate crime are held to account, where possible."

Belfast Telegraph