Starmer to address nation after inquiry into Southport attack announced

The Prime Minister will address the nation on Tuesday morning after the UK Government announced an inquiry into how the state failed to identify the risk posed by the Southport killer.

Axel Rudakubana, who pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July, was referred three times to anti-extremism programme Prevent amid concerns over his fixation with violence.

But despite this and contact with other state agencies, the authorities failed to stop the attack which claimed the lives of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.

‘Independent answers’

Announcing the inquiry on Monday evening, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the country needed “independent answers” on Prevent and other agencies’ contact with the “extremely violent” Rudakubana and “how he came to be so dangerous”.

Following Rudakubana’s guilty pleas, Sir Keir Starmer described the 18-year-old as “vile and sick”, and said there were “grave questions to answer” on how the state “failed” to protect the three girls.

The Prime Minister added: “Britain will rightly demand answers, and we will leave no stone unturned in that pursuit.”

As well as the three murders, Rudakubana admitted 10 counts of attempted murder, possession of a knife, production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit acts of terrorism.

The terrorism offence relates to a PDF file entitled Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants, The Al Qaeda Training Manual.

With some opposition figures alleging a “cover-up” of Rudakubana’s contact with the authorities, Sir Keir is likely to face questions about why this information had not been published earlier.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said on Monday he had been “right all along” when he claimed in the summer that information had been withheld from the public.

But on Monday, the Home Secretary said the information about Rudakubana’s background could not be made public earlier “to avoid jeopardising the legal proceedings or prejudicing the possible jury trial, in line with the normal rules of the British justice system”.

There are also likely to be questions about why the charges relating to the possession of ricin and the al Qaida training manual were not made public for three months after the teenager’s arrest.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said there were many questions that “remain unanswered about what went wrong”.

Welcoming the announcement of a public inquiry, 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.”

The Prime Minister is expected to begin his address at 8.30am on Tuesday.