Thousands of hate crimes reported

Sophie Lancaster beaten to death in a Bacup park in 2007 just weeks after moving to Bacup from Rochdale

There were nearly 3,300 incidents of hate crime in Greater Manchester during a nine-month period last year, police said as they launched a crackdown.

Greater Manchester Police said the figures related to the period between April and December 2013.

Of those, 2,687 were race hate, 338 were over sexual orientation, 244 were religious hate and 106 disability hate.

A network of reporting centres is being expanded across Greater Manchester at the start of hate crime awareness week.

The centres are safe locations where victims can report incidents to trained staff who can pass the details on to police.

Greater Manchester Police was the first in England to record subculture hate crime from 2013, following the death of goth Sophie Lancaster, 20, who was beaten to death in a Bacup park in 2007 just weeks after moving to Bacup from Rochdale.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/79213/gmp-begins-to-record-attacks-on-goths-emos-and-punks-as-hate-crimes

Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd said: "The impact of hate crime extends far beyond the initial incident.

"By their very nature, hate crimes are very personal attacks that leave victims, who are often already vulnerable individuals, feeling defenceless physically and emotionally.

"Because of this, victims may be reluctant to report the crime or - worse still - may come to accept hate crime as an inevitable part of their lives."