FIVE North Yorkshire criminals whose offences were motivated by hate had their sentences increased in the final three months of last year.

A new report shows that the five had their sentences “uplifted” following applications from the Crown Prosecution Service.

The CPS can apply for a sentence uplift for crimes where the motivation was a hostility or prejudice towards a victim, because of their protected characteristic, such as race, religion, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation.

Hate crime can include threats of, or actual physical attacks, damage to property, abusive or insulting language used verbally or via a social media post.

The uplifted sentences in North Yorkshire included three for assaults that were racially-motivated, one for religiously-motivated assault and one homophobically-motivated assault.

In one of the cases a community order with 220 hours of unpaid work was uplifted to a ten-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months with the same amount of unpaid work while in another instance a six-month sentence was uplifted to 18-months.

The force's lead for hate crime, Superintendent Mark Khan, said: “The outcomes of these cases clearly demonstrate that North Yorkshire Police take all reports of hate crime very seriously and that we will do all we can to ensure justice is brought to victims."

He added: “Each incident of hate crime leaves a deep scar on its victim, many of whom comment that the despicable language used against them or the physical assault they have been subjected to will never leave them.

"I hope that the sentences handed to perpetrators, brings some element of closure for these victims and enables them to move on with their lives."