Hate crime in London surged in the last year driven in part by international events such as Syria and the conflict between Israel and Gaza.

A new report shows that overall the number of hate crimes in the capital rose by more than 20 per cent in the last 12 months to October.

There were significant increases in attacks motivated by racism, religion and homophobia, according to the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime.

Police believe the rise is due mainly to more people being willing to come forward to report incidents rather than a genuine increase in crime.

However, a surge in faith related offences – up by 23 per cent to a total of 1,048 offences – was driven in part by the impact of national and international events, the study says.

A record number of faith hate offences was recorded in July this year, 95 per cent of which were anti-Semitic incidents following Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

The report also highlights the spike in anti-Muslim incidents following the murder of soldier Lee Rigby last year.

The new figures show a worrying increase in violent hate crime offences up 21 per cent to a total of 11,400 crimes in the last 12 months.

Homophobic crime is also rising, with a monthly increase of 21.5 per cent since March 2014 – to an average of 100 cases a month.

In June there was a record 175 cases of homophobic crime reported to the Met, though community groups believe this is due to more people coming forward.

Transgender hate crime has grown by 86.2 per cent – from 58 to 108 cases – and there are increases in disability hate crime, up 12.5 per cent, and racist and religious crime, up by nearly 20 per cent.

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