Anti-Muslim hate crimes 'soared' after murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich

 
Killers: Michael Adebowale, right, and Michael Adebolajo
Staff|Agency27 December 2013
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The murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich sparked a surge in the numbers of anti-Muslim hate crimes, new figures have revealed.

London alone saw 500 Islamophobic crimes in 2013, according to the Metropolitan police.

The figures were collated by the Press Association, a national news agency, through Freedom of Information requests sent to every police force in England and Wales.

Of the 43 forces, 24 provided figures on the number of anti-Muslim crimes and incidents recorded.

It is feared the true numbers could be even higher, as some forces admitted they do not always record the faith of a religious hate crime victim.

Tell Mama, a group which monitors anti-Muslim incidents, said it had dealt with some 840 cases across the UK since April - with the number expected to rise to more than 1,000 by the end of March.

This compared with 582 anti-Muslim cases it dealt with from March 2012 to March 2013.

Murdered: Lee Rigby's (Pictures: PA)
PA

Fiyaz Mujhal, director of Faith Matters, which runs the Tell Mama project, said reaction to the murder of drummer Rigby had caused the number of Islamophobic crimes to "significantly jump".

"The far right groups, particularly the English Defence League (EDL) perniciously use the internet and social media to promote vast amounts of online hate," he said.

He said tougher sentencing was needed to tackle Islamophobic crime and branded guidelines by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to monitor social media as "not fit for purpose".

He said: "In one case, a pig's head was left outside a mosque and the perpetrator came away with a community sentence.

"When you target a mosque, you are targeting the whole community."

Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, were convicted of Mr Rigby's murder at the Old Bailey earlier this month.

The pair face lengthy jail terms following the killing on May 22 this year.

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