The figures, published in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Racist Monitoring Scheme annual report on Friday, cover the period from April 2001 to March 2002.

Sussex CPS said the number of racially motivated crimes taken to court had gone up by 73% over 12 months.

But it claims the rise in the reported figures could be the result of high profile campaigns urging victims to come forward rather than an increase in the number of incidents.

Guilty pleas

Sussex CPS said of the 76 cases brought against defendants, almost three-quarters had resulted in guilty pleas.

The average conviction rate across England and Wales was 83%.

The report, which collected data on all racially motivated incidents sent by the police to the CPS for prosecution, showed a 16% rise in incidents in England and Wales, with 2,674 defendants in court in total.

Sir David Calvert-Smith, director of public prosecutions, said: "I am encouraged that the conviction rate remains high at 83%, and that by working closely with police to build strong cases we are securing a large number of guilty pleas at coutr.

"But there is still a lot more work for us to do to support victims as their cases progress through the criminal justice system and to reduce the number of charges which are dropped or discontinued."