More than one hate crime a month recorded in Rotherham

Anti-hate crime group Tell MAMA said it had received reports of 19 crimes against Muslims - more than one a month - in the past year, with the majority being assaults.

Sarah Champion, who is campaigning to continue as Rotherham MP, said she wanted to make it clear people of ethnic minorities should not have to “endure” abuse and was concerned many incidents were not being reported.

She said: “I am very concerned that people in Rotherham are facing abuse and intimidation because of their religion or ethnicity.  

“Nationally, we saw a 41 per cent increase in recorded hate crime the month after Brexit and I know constituents have spoken about feeling more intimidated in the town since then.

“What worries me most about the hate crime figures are the assaults and abuse that are not recorded.  

“I have spoken to many women of Pakistani, Yemini and Chinese heritage who have lived in this town all their lives and are now resigned to the fact that verbal abuse, being spat on and being intimidated is something they have to endure. 

“This is hate crime and they must report it to the police so that we can see prosecutions.”

Iman Atta, director of Tell MAMA, said: “We have seen troubling incidents in South Yorkshire where taxi drivers, late-night catering industry and people travelling on public transport have been targeted for anti-Muslim hatred.

“These cases have to be put into context though and whilst they are troubling, we are aware of the fact that the police are now making strides to put hate crime high on their agenda with the police and crime commissioner also pushing on this.”

South Yorkshire Police’s hate crime figures showed eight hate crimes and non-crime hate incidents between April 2016 and March 2017 in Rotherham which were recorded as Islamophobic.

Of those, only one was a recorded assault.

Supt Sarah Poolman said: “We know that under-reporting of hate crime and incidents across all strands remains an issue.

“We work closely with Tell MAMA and other organisations to improve our understanding of incidents of hate in Rotherham so that we are able to tackle it and engage proactively with our communities to build confidence in us.”

A “steady” rise in reported hate crimes and incidents was in part down to raising awareness and building confidence in communities, she said.

South Yorkshire Police was on Tell MAMA’s South Yorkshire Advisory Board, Supt Poolman said, which allowed them to share data and look for areas of under-reporting.

Muhbeen Hussain, Rotherham-based founder of British Muslim Youth, said he had been a victim of abuse himself, suffering verbal abuse from a motorist who drove by while he was being interviewed by the BBC.

Mr Hussain said he was not surprised people were more likely to make reports to Tell MAMA rather than the police as many Muslims in the town were reluctant to contact the police.

He added: “The police are becoming better than they were but a lot of work has to be done.”