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Public inquiry into Southport attack announced Public inquiry into Southport attack announced
(about 2 hours later)
Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar, and Bebe King were stabbed along with eight other children and two adultsElsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar, and Bebe King were stabbed along with eight other children and two adults
A public inquiry will be held into the Southport attacks, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced.A public inquiry will be held into the Southport attacks, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced.
It comes after Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to killing Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9 at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the town last year. It comes after 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to killing three girls - six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar.
Cooper said their families "needed answers about what had happened leading up to the attack". Cooper said their families "needed answers" about he lead-up to the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the town last year.
She said Rudakubana had been referred to Prevent programme three times between December 2019 and May 2021 when he was aged 13 and 14, as well as having contact with the police, the courts and social services. Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the attack, had been referred to the Prevent programme three times, Cooper said, between December 2019 and April 2021 when he was aged 13 and 14 years old.
"Yet between them, those agencies failed to identify the terrible risk and danger to others that he posed," she said. The killer was already known to police, the courts and social services, she said, "yet between them, those agencies failed to identify the terrible risk and danger to others that he posed".
She added that the case came "against a backdrop over a series of years in which growing numbers of teenagers have been referred to Prevent, investigated by counter-terror police, or referred to other agencies amid concerns around serious violence and extremism". Rudakubana admitted 16 charges, including the murder of the three girls on 29 July last year, with not guilty pleas entered on his behalf at a court hearing in December last year.
"We need to face up to why this has been happening and what needs to change."
Cooper said the Crown Prosecution Service had been clear that information about Rudakubana's past "could not be made public before today to avoid jeopardising the legal proceedings or prejudicing the possible jury trial, in line with the normal rules of the British justice systems".
"Now that there has been a guilty plea, it is essential that the families and the people of Southport can get answers about how this terrible attack could take place and about why this happened to their children," she said.
She added that during the summer, the Home Office had commissioned an urgent Prevent Learning Review into the three referrals concerning Rudakubana.
"We will publish further details this week, alongside new reforms to the Prevent programme," she added.
In a statement before the inquiry was announced, the prime minister said there were "grave questions to answer".
Sir Keir Starmer said "Britain will rightly demand answers" adding: "We will leave no stone unturned in that pursuit."
"At the centre of this horrific event, there is still a family and community grief that is raw; a pain that not even justice can ever truly heal," he said.
"Although no words today can ever truly convey the depths of that pain, I want the families to know that our thoughts are with them and everyone in Southport affected by this barbaric crime.
"The whole nation grieves with them."
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has also said there are questions to answer about the case.
In a social media post, she said: "We will need a complete account of who in government knew what and when. The public deserves the truth."
At a court hearing in December last year, not guilty pleas had been entered on behalf of Rudakubana, however on Monday morning he admitted to sixteen charges including the murder of the three girls on 29 July last year.
He also pleaded guilty to the attempted murders of eight children and two adults, possession of a knife on the day of the murders, producing a biological toxin, ricin, and the possession of an al-Qaeda training manual - a terror offence.He also pleaded guilty to the attempted murders of eight children and two adults, possession of a knife on the day of the murders, producing a biological toxin, ricin, and the possession of an al-Qaeda training manual - a terror offence.
There has been criticism of the authorities withholding information about Rudakubana's interest in violence and terrorism from the Conservatives and Reform UK.
However, Cooper said lawyers at the Crown Prosecution Service had been clear these details "could not be made public before today to avoid jeopardising the legal proceedings or prejudicing the possible jury trial, in line with the normal rules of the British justice systems".
Now there has been a guilty plea, Cooper said "it is essential that the families and the people of Southport can get answers about how this terrible attack could take place and about why this happened to their children".
She added that during the summer, the Home Office had commissioned an urgent Prevent Learning Review into the three referrals concerning Rudakubana and further details of that review would be published this week, alongside new reforms to the Prevent programme.
Cooper acknowledged "growing numbers of teenagers" were being referred to the Prevent scheme, or investigated by counter-terror police or other agencies, due to fears about "serious violence and extremism".
"We need to face up to why this has been happening and what needs to change," she added.
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp welcomed the public inquiry into the "devastating attack", because the girls' families "deserve answers... to ensure this never happens again".
"There are many questions that remain unanswered about what went wrong," he said.
"We also need to know who in Government knew what and when, as well as why the authorities may have withheld some information from the public.
"As Jonathan Hall, Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, has said in the past being open at an early stage is important to maintaining public confidence."
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed the handling of the Southport case "one of the worst cover-ups" he had seen in his lifetime, complaining he had asked questions about whether Rudakubana was known to the authorities but was given "no answer" and had instead been "completely vilified".
Following the court proceedings, Merseyside Police chief constable Serena Kennedy denied there had been any cover-up.
She said: "We have been accused of purposely withholding information - this is absolutely not the case.
"From day one we have been as open as we possibly could and have constantly been in touch with the CPS who have advised us on what information could be released.
"We have wanted to say much more to show we were being open and transparent, but we have been advised throughout that we couldn't do so as it would risk justice being delivered."
"We will never know why he did it," she said, adding: "What we can say is that from all those documents no one ideology was uncovered, and that is why this was not treated as terrorism."
The BBC has been told that before the attack, Rudakubana had been referred to Prevent because of concerns about his general obsession with violence.The BBC has been told that before the attack, Rudakubana had been referred to Prevent because of concerns about his general obsession with violence.
In December 2019, Rudakubana - then aged 13 - returned to the school from which he had been expelled and assaulted a pupil with a hockey stick, breaking their wrist.In December 2019, Rudakubana - then aged 13 - returned to the school from which he had been expelled and assaulted a pupil with a hockey stick, breaking their wrist.
In the same year he had told Childline he was going to take a knife into school because of racial bullying. In the same year he had told NSPCC's Childline he was going to take a knife into school because of racial bullying, which breached their threshold for a referral to local authorities.
The NSPCC, which runs Childline, said that one call was "sufficiently serious to breach a threshold which led to Childline informing the local authorities of their concerns".
Speaking outside court on Monday, Ursula Doyle, the CPS prosecutor, said Rudakubana was "a young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence - he's shown no signs of remorse".Speaking outside court on Monday, Ursula Doyle, the CPS prosecutor, said Rudakubana was "a young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence - he's shown no signs of remorse".
Matt Jukes, the head of counterterrorism policing, said a thorough investigation will take place now Rudakubana has pleaded guilty.
"The same determination we have shown in the investigation will now be applied to examining how the range of agencies involved with Rudakubana did not come together effectively to identify and deal with the risk he posed," he said.
Rudakubana is due to be sentenced on Thursday and is expected to be given a life sentence.Rudakubana is due to be sentenced on Thursday and is expected to be given a life sentence.
However, he cannot be sentenced to a whole-life term for his crimes - which would mean he would not be released from prison except in exceptional compassionate circumstances - because he is under the age of 21. However, he cannot be sentenced to a whole-life term for his crimes because he is under the age of 21.