THERE were 35 incidents of homophobic hate crime reported to Dyfed-Powys Police in 2016/17, but a charity has warned this is “the tip of an iceberg”.

The latest Home Office figures show the number of hate crimes recorded by the police during the 2016/17 financial year.

In Dyfed-Powys there were 35 incidents where gay, lesbian or bisexual people were abused or attacked due to their identity, rising from 16 in 2015/16.

However, the charity Stonewall, which campaigns on LGBT+ issues, believes this is just a fraction of the true number of homosexual people who have experienced hate crime.

A Stonewall spokeswoman said: “These worrying statistics are a wake-up call. It’s 2018 – lesbian, gay, bi and trans people should feel safe and no one should face hatred simply because of who they are.

“Sadly, the reality is very different. And while some people may suggest this spike is due to increased confidence in reporting, we fear these figures represent just the tip of the iceberg.”

The Home Office figures show that over the same period there were three incidents of transgender hate crime reported to Dyfed-Powys Police.

Stonewall’s spokeswoman commented that according to its research “four in five anti-LGBT hate crimes go unreported, with younger people particularly reluctant to go to the police”.

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