North’s disabled to get hate crime protection

ATTACKS against disabled people are to be scrutinised as part of a British government offensive on escalating hate crime in the North.

With rising levels of racist and homophobic assaults already recorded, criminal justice minister John Spellar pledged to include other victims in a new strategy for fighting the menace.

Mr Spellar said: “This policy will introduce the monitoring and recording of sectarian incidents and incidents against persons with disabilities.”

He outlined plans for collecting statistics after thugs in Derry again targeted gays and ethnic minorities.

A Portuguese youth in the city was recently grabbed by a man who threatened to kill him and spat in his face, police said.

Two homosexual men living in Derry’s Waterside district also received death threats in a letter signed by loyalist paramilitaries. Crude graffiti was daubed on the men’s home as well.

The attacks have heightened concerns expressed in an all-party parliamentary report into hate crimes earlier this year.

According to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, a significant and rapidly growing problem of hate crime exists in the North.

The committee’s study found that police figures for race-related and homophobic incidents underestimate the true scale.

The report, published in May, also urged the British government to change proposed legislation to give better protection to disabled people and called on police to tackle the issue more vigorously. They said that the authorities needed to include attacks on the disabled in the draft Criminal Justice (NI) Order.

In response, Mr Spellar pointed out the planned legislation had been changed to protect people with disabilities - bringing the law into line with that in England and Wales.

He also stressed how committed the Police Service of Northern Ireland was to fighting hate crime.

Extra patrols and minority liaison officers have been set up in south Belfast, where scores of African and Asian families have been attacked.

“The police service are currently developing a Hate Crime Policy which will be aimed at ensuring the delivery of a consistent, robust, proactive and effective approach when dealing with racial and homophobic hate crime,” he said.

He added: “Included in this policy will be the introduction of policy in respect of the monitoring and investigation of sectarian incidents and hate incidents perpetrated on persons with disabilities.”