By Press Association 2021 Asian families walking in a street Racially and religiously aggravated offences recorded by police in England and Wales hit a new high in 2020, with more than a quarter of investigations closed without forces identifying a suspect, analysis shows. The impact of the coronavirus lockdown, along with protests supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, were two of the main factors named by forces as helping to drive the increase in offences, along with improved recording of hate crimes. A total of 61,851 racially and religiously aggravated offences were recorded in 2020, up 7% from 57,825 in 2019. This is also more than double the 28,479 offences recorded in 2013, the first calendar year for which comparable data is available.