Police recorded hate crimes in Norfolk have risen again. Crime correspondent SIMON PARKIN looks at what’s behind record levels.

At first glance the figures look stark - hate crimes reported to police have more than tripled over the last decade.

Year-on-year increases in people reporting hate-fueled abuse, harassment, criminal damage and assaults have been seen in Norfolk.

But how much this reflects increased racism, homophobia and religious intolerance and how much is due to people no longer suffering in silence?

In its report to accompany the latest figures, the Home Office admits “it is uncertain to what degree the increase is a genuine rise, or due to continued recording improvements and more victims having the confidence to report these crimes to the police”.

There can be no doubt deeply divisive issues, like Brexit, Black Lives Matter, immigration and the transgender war of words, can and do spill over into real world consequences.

This has been amplified by social media where every societal fault line is punctuated by outbursts of online hate.

But it is also true that people are quite rightly no longer willing to be targeted for their race, religion, sexual orientation or disability; and also feel more confident reporting leads to hate-mongers being brought to justice.