NEW figures show that racially and religiously motivated hate offences hit an all-time high in 2020. The bleak findings from police in England and Wales also found that over than a quarter of investigations closed without forces identifying a suspect. Coronavirus lockdown and Black Lives Matter protests 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.