THERE have been more than 400 honour based abuse crimes in the past two years in West Yorkshire.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to West Yorkshire Police revealed the numbers had dropped slightly from 2020 to 2021 but are still more than triple what they were in 2016.

Honour based abuse is an incident or crime involving violence, threats of violence, intimidation, coercion or abuse (including psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional abuse), which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of an individual, family and or community for alleged or perceived breaches of the family and/or community’s code of behaviour.

The amount of recorded crimes of this nature decreased by 49 between 2020 and last year – from 225 to 176.

But the figures remain at much higher levels than the four years prior to that, when there was a gradual increase before a drastic rise between 2019 and 2020.

There were 51 honour based abuse crimes in 2016, 89 in 2017, 81 in 2018 and 115 in 2019.

The most prominent reported crime last year was violence without injury (70), followed by stalking and harassment (28), and then violence with injury (16).

There were two rapes recorded – the lowest amount since 2018 – with one “other sexual offence” recorded – a rise on last year.

Most crime categories saw a decrease from 2020, but possession of drugs (six to 10), public order offences (12 to 15), vehicle offences (two to eight) all rose, while criminal damage (14), arson (two) miscellaneous crimes against society (one) remained the same.

There were three honour based abuse crimes recorded for this first time this year, in fraud (one), possession of weapons (one) and robbery (four).

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: “West Yorkshire Police must effectively safeguard victims of honour based abuse and the force has clear policies and procedures in place.

“Specialist officers located in the Force's district Safeguarding Units are responsible for ensuring the safety of those who report concerns about themselves directly or who are otherwise brought to our attention as being potential victims, ensuring that all crimes are fully investigated and prosecuted wherever possible.

“Some police interventions in respect of honour based abuse are preventative in nature rather than reactive, for example where we receive concerns from potential victims of honour based abuse where no crime has yet been committed.

“Our response is always to safeguard that person from coming to harm, for example, by obtaining Forced Marriage Prevention Orders, assisting victims to leave the family by arranging hostel accommodation and coordinating access to specialist support agencies.”