HATE crimes in Wiltshire increased by a third in 2018, compared to the year before.

A spike in May contributed to the rise from 510 in 2017 to 692 in 2018 offences in which people are victims due to prejudice against them for reasons including their race, religion, sexual orientation.

Wiltshire Police Panel confirmed there is a focus on hate crime across police forces nationally, in connection with ongoing uncertainty over Brexit.

Wiltshire's Hate Crime Multi Agency has investigated the spike and found that incidents have occurred throughout the county and were not more common in town or village.