BREAKING: Keir Starmer to hold Downing Street press conference and give urgent statement
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Keir Starmer is set to hold a No10 press conference after warning there are questions to answer on how the young victims of the Southport stabbings were "failed" by the state. The PM will address the nation at 8.30am on Tuesday after he welcomed the conviction of the "vile and sick Southport killer" 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana.
Rudakubana pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, in a frenzied attack on a Taylor Swift-themed class on July 29. He also admitted the attempted murders of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
Mr Starmer said his thoughts were with the families of everyone affected, "who will be saved from the ordeal of a protracted trial". But he promised to "leave no stone unturned" as he announced a public inquiry into the killings. The PM said in an initial statement on Monday: "It is also a moment of trauma for the nation, and there are grave questions to answer as to how the state failed in its ultimate duty to protect these young girls. Britain will rightly demand answers, and 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. 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.".
