A MAN who verbally abused hotel staff has been sentenced by a court.

Joshua Wilcock subjected one member of staff at the Holiday Inn Express in Barrow to homophobic abuse and swore at other workers.

The 25-year-old admitted two charges of using threatening and abusive words when he appeared before South Cumbria Magistrates' Court.

The court was told the incident happened at the Market Street hotel on May 23.

Magistrates ruled that the offence was aggravated due to the sexual orientation of the victim because homophobic language was used based on the perception of the victim's sexuality.

The court sentenced Wilcock, of Duke Street in Barrow, to a 12-week community order compelling him to complete a curfew between 4pm and 7am each day.

The sentence was uplifted by eight weeks due to the homophobic nature.

His sentencing came as new figures showed homophobia was behind one in five hate crimes recorded in Cumbria last year.

LGBTQ+ rights charities are calling for action to safeguard the community, as hate crimes based on sexual orientation have almost doubled in the last five years in England and Wales.

Home Office data shows Cumbria Constabulary recorded 124 homophobic and biphobic hate crimes in the year to March – 25 fewer than the year before.

It means someone's sexual orientation was a motivating factor in 18p per cent of the 681 hate crimes recorded in Cumbria last year.

The Home Office said that while the biggest drivers behind the rises were improvements in police recording and increased willingness from victims to come forward, the Government 'could not be complacent', and a new hate crime strategy will be published this year.

Charity Stonewall says the true scale of hate crimes against LGBTQ+ victims may be much higher, due to many incidents going unreported.

Robbie de Santos, director of communications and external affairs, said the figures must be a wakeup call for addressing LGBTQ+ hate crimes.

He said: “From ensuring that LGBTQ+ hate crimes are properly recorded and prosecuted within the criminal justice system, to training police forces to understand LGBTQ+ hate crime and support victims and survivors, it’s vital that we all do more to tackle violence and hate directed at LGBTQ+ people.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “All forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable.

"The cowards who commit them should feel the full force of the law."