THE number of violent homophobic attacks in North Yorkshire has fallen for the second successive year, according to new figures.

North Yorkshire Police recorded only five homophobic violent crimes between January and October, compared with 12 in 2013 and ten in 2012.

In the same period, Humberside Police recorded 37 such crimes, compared with 42 in 2013 and 57 in 2012 and West Yorkshire Police recorded 40 attacks, compared with 43 in 2013 and 53 in 2012.

In contrast, police forces in other parts of the country reported a rise in attacks of this nature. Figures released to the Press Association under the Freedom of Information Act revealed 17 forces recorded more violence against the person offences which were classed as homophobic or motivated by a person’s sexuality between January and October than the whole of last year.

Scotland Yard recorded 1,073 such offences between January and October, up from 1,007 last year and 1,002 in 2012.

They included 315 assaults so far this year and a sharp rise in harassment offences from 693 last year to 747 in 2014.

Greater Manchester Police recorded 278 violent crimes motivated by a person’s sexual orientation between January and October, up from 231 last year and 259 in 2012.

Acon and Somerset, Merseyside, Suffolk, South Yorkshire, Devon and Cornwall, North Wales, Kent, Bedfordshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Durham, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Cambridgeshire police forces also reported a rise in violent crimes which were homophobic or motivated by a person’s sexual orientation.

Gay rights charity Stonewall warned that homophobic hate crime was still “a real issue in the UK” and authorities must “continue to take this type of vile abuse seriously”.

The charity’s spokesman Richard Lane said: “We believe that more and more victims and witnesses of homophobic attacks are building up the courage to speak to others and report these instances to the police.”