Sir Keir Starmer has said “nothing will be off the table” as the government today launched an inquiry into the Southport attacks of July 2024. Yesterday, Axel Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to the murders of Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9. The inquiry will investigate how the state failed to identify the risk posed by Rudakubana, who was referred three times to anti-extremism programme Prevent amid concerns over his fixation with violence. Report by Jonesia. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00There are no adequate words to describe the horror of the events in Southport on July 29th,
00:072024. Only the feelings of shock and pain. B.B. King, Elsie Dot Stankham and Alice de Silva Aguiar
00:16all died in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. Eight other children and two adults
00:23were stabbed but survived. Yesterday, after months of silence, 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana
00:30admitted all charges against him. It is clear that this was a young man with a sickening
00:37and sustained interest in death and violence. He has shown no signs of remorse. It can now
00:45be reported that Rudakubana was excluded from school in 2019 over claims he was carrying a knife.
00:53He later returned to the school and assaulted someone with a hockey stick. And his fixation
00:58with violence led him to be referred multiple times to prevent the British government's
01:03anti-extremism programme from the age of 13. This morning, the Prime Minister launched a
01:09public inquiry into the Southport attack. He admitted the state had failed but rejected
01:15accusations of a cover-up. The law carefully restricts what can be said by anyone, not just
01:22me as Prime Minister, but anybody in these circumstances, and it is done to protect the
01:27family and their victims. If this trial had collapsed because I or anyone else had revealed
01:36crucial details while the police were investigating, then the vile individual who committed
01:43these crimes would have walked away a free man. The Conservatives have welcomed the announcement
01:50of the inquiry and have called for questions to be answered about what the government knew and when.
01:56This public inquiry should also cover the government's response after these terrible
02:01murders. Were they as open and transparent as they could have been? Jonathan Hall, the independent
02:06reviewer of terrorism legislation, says there is a lot you can say without prejudicing subsequent
02:12trials, and we need to understand if the government's potential failure to be completely
02:16open and transparent contributed in any way to those appalling and unacceptable riots that followed.
02:26Online speculation and misinformation about the attack helped fuel last summer's riots.
02:32One legal expert says the government could have said more at the time. I think there was a very,
02:37very poor eight hours after the immediate attack where social media went completely mad, and it
02:43was really up to the authorities, I think, to give a calm, sober, honest and authoritative account of
02:47what they could say. Frankly, this man was only ever going to be convicted of murder or manslaughter,
02:53and it really is hard to see why more information couldn't have been given to the public.
02:57Sakhir Starmer has promised justice and change for the families and people of Southport.
03:03Axel Rudikibana will be sentenced on Thursday.