THERE have been 35 race or religious incidents reported in Swindon since the London terrorist attacks in July.

The figures represent a 59 per cent increase on the same period last year.

Across Wiltshire racially aggravated crimes have gone up by almost two-thirds in the same period.

The news came on the day it was claimed by prosecutors that more than a third of race hate charges in Wiltshire were dropped before they got to court last year.

Chf Insp Simon Dicks is responsible for community safety with Swindon police.

He said: "We've had incidents where people have racially abused members of the Muslim community, but there's only a small increase."

He said the fact that Swindon has not seen a significant rise like some towns and cities is a testament to all the communities of the town.

He said: "I don't think the Muslim community have anything to fear in Swindon.

"They can be reassured that the police and other organisations are working very hard to ensure there are no incidents in Swindon.

"The rogue elements in London are in no way representative of the Muslim community in Swindon, who work very hard with us to find solutions to problems. There have been racially aggravated incidents but we've taken a very tough line." Nationally, there were a total of 69 police charges for racially aggravated crimes in 2003/04 up from 40 in 2002/03 according to a report by the Crown Prosecution Service.

The Racist Incidents Monitoring Scheme revealed 26 charges were later dropped before reaching court.

In 12 of those cases there was insufficient evidence to proceed above the national average by one per cent.

Two cases were dropped because witnesses failed to attend and four because of "public interest" concerns usually because the defendant was being dealt with on more serious offences or was already serving a sentence for a separate prosecution.

Of the 43 charges pursued in Wiltshire courts, 11 were for racially aggravated assaults and 19 racially aggravated public order.

Although a lot of charges were dropped, most charged with racially aggravated offences were prosecuted. A total of 35 were charged and 30 of those were prosecuted.

A 52-year-old man from the Walcot area is due to appear at Swindon Magistrates Court today for a racially aggravated public order offence.

Dave Andrew