POLICE have recorded 855 hate crimes against disabled people in two years, with 334 of them involving violence.

The figures were released by West Yorkshire Police through a Freedom of Information request, and show the scale of shocking offences against vulnerable people in the county.

In the 2016/17 financial year, there were 319 attacks, but this increased to 536 the following year – a huge rise of 217, or 68 per cent.

According to the figures, 83 of the crimes involved either arson or criminal damage and the high number of crimes has led the force to employ specialist Hate Crime Co-ordinators to crack down on incidents.

A hate crime is categorised by police as any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be “motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity”.

Other crimes included 374 public order offences, which can include disorderly conduct, six burglaries and 35 thefts.

Sarah McKay, 37, of Parkwood Rise, Keighley, was subjected to a seven-week campaign of verbal abuse and intimidation by a small group of neighbouring residents because she is disabled and says she is not surprised by the figures.

Ms McKay, who has Crohn’s disease, said she was left terrified by baseball bat-wielding thugs who smashed her flat’s windows then destroyed the adapted car she relied on to get her medication.

The stress and pressure of the abuse has left Ms McKay in Airedale Hospital for the last three-and-a-half weeks.

“I need to be safe because this comes as no surprise to me,” she said. “I need to get CCTV and make my communal block safe because the door isn’t locked and these people can come in and out.

“It worries me that more and more disabled people are being attacked.

“People shout a lot of nasty things at me, asking what my disability is.

“I’ve been ill for 20 years and they don’t think I’m disabled enough to have a car.”

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: “As part of our commitment to making communities safer and feel safer, West Yorkshire Police is committed to engaging with communities to increase the under-reporting of hate crimes and hate incidents.

“West Yorkshire Police employs specialist Hate Crime Co-ordinators across districts in order to assist investigating officers in identifying perpetrators, providing after-care support for victims and to work with communities to increase awareness of hate crime and reporting mechanisms.

“They also engage in joint working with partners such as local councils, Victim Support and the 142 third party Hate Incident Reporting Centres.

“HIRCs offer anyone who has experienced or witnessed a hate crime the opportunity to report it in an alternative location to a police station.”