The number of reported racially or religiously aggravated public order offences declined in Havering in 2021 for the first time in five years.

Racially or religiously aggravated public fear, alarm or distress offences rose every year from 2016 to 2020 in the borough, increasing from 157 to 216 over that period.

However, according to the Met’s crime data dashboard, 185 such offences were recorded last year, a decline of just over 14 per cent.

Havering's annual figure for 2021 still remains higher than any recorded up to 2019, when it passed 200 for the first time.

The Public Order Act 1986 makes it an offence to use threatening or abusive words or behaviour to a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress as a result.

Such offences are considered racially or religiously aggravated if the abuse is motivated, wholly or partly, by hostility towards the individual based on their membership of a particular racial or religious group.