Southport victim’s family criticises police plan to share suspects’ ethnicity
The family of one of the three girls killed in the Southport attack last year has criticised new police guidance that recommends forces share suspects’ ethnicity and nationality with the public.
The interim guidance by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing comes after mounting pressure on police to increase transparency around the identity of offenders.
Police forces have been instructed to share suspects’ ethnicity and nationality with the public after authorities were accused of covering up offences carried out by asylum seekers, and in the wake of riots sparked by social media disinformation after the Southport murders.
‘Irrelevant’
In an interview with The Guardian, Michael Weston King, the grandfather of Bebe King, who along with Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar was killed by Axel Rudakubana, said the ethnicity of serious crime suspects is “completely irrelevant”.
Disclosing the race and immigration status of high-profile suspects became official police guidance on Wednesday.
“I not only speak for myself but for all of the King family when I say that the ethnicity of any perpetrator, or indeed their immigration status, is completely irrelevant,” Mr Weston King said.
“Mental health issues, and the propensity to commit crime, happens in any ethnicity, nationality or race.
“The boy who took Bebe had been failed by various organisations, who were aware of his behaviour, and by the previous government’s lack of investment in Prevent. As a result, we were also failed by this.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called for more transparency from police about suspects, while Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said that he “absolutely” believes that information about charged suspects’ immigration status should be made available by police.
It is hoped the change could combat the spread of misinformation on social media, after Merseyside Police was criticised for not revealing the ethnicity of Rudakabana when he was arrested after he attacked a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport in July 2024.
Suspect
Within hours of the attack, posts spread on the internet claiming the suspect was a 17-year-old asylum seeker who had come to the country by boat last year.
In the first press conference after the event, at 6.30pm that day, Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy told journalists the suspect was originally from Cardiff.
But the police statement did little to quell the misinformation spreading online, and the next day, riots began across the country.
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It’s difficult because sometimes if the police are looking for a suspect details of their appearance will be needed. Probably best to be flexible and leave it to the police as an operational matter when they have assessed the risks. As a matter of fact I do not agree with the parents comments although I understand them. Some ethnicity is an at risk group for certain states or conditions which may have a mixed genetic or cultural basis but it is not especially relevant to the immediate handling of the situation.
Police will ask for help with details when they are stuck. As soon as a suspect, remember that, “suspect” is in custody, details stop. To not jeopardise a fair trial should one happen or wrongly label an innocent. Names in the press pre trial etc. you hear will have “named locally as” are from the press door knocking or socials. I would far rather fair trials get as good a hearing as they can, because people can also be innocent. I wonder how defence lawyers are looking at this. Lets not label people because they are not white to appease… Read more »
I agree with the parents comments. Ethnic background has zero relevance to criminality. To say that a brown or black person is more likely to harm anyone else simply because of their skin colour is blatant racism. To say that a person with white skin is more likely to be a rioter or a football holligan is also frank and clear racism.
40% of rioters arrested last year had domestic abuse convictions.
Stupid move pandering to racists.
Racists who threaten to cause riots, and are still trying to.
You don’t out farage farage, such as his life in the gutter of politics.
But he gets his airtime, his presence is felt everywhere and we are heading towards dangerous uncharted waters just like across the pond.
It should be routine to accurately record facts and share that information in such cases. It’s shocking that this doesn’t already happen. As a female I was disgusted to find out police were afraid to record ethnicity for these horrific crimes. Hiding basic information does not make me feel safe.
Recording ethnicity and sharing ethnicity details with the public are different things all together.
Why do you feel unsafe of they do not disclose the perpetrator ethnicity?
It is recorded. But you don’t get it until a a fair trial. Why should you.
Meanwhile Surry police went undercover jogging to pick up cat callers and verbal abuse, guess what colour the caught are?
Guess the colour of the rioters that are also in the frame for domestic abuse?