Police and Prevent under scrutiny as details emerge on Southport killer
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Teenager Axel Rudakubana had attacked a pupil with a hockey stick, used school computers to look up the London Bridge terror outrage and carried a knife on a bus and into class before he carried out the Southport murders. He prompted six separate calls to police and three separate referrals to Prevent, the government anti-terror programme.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has ordered a “thorough review” of the Prevent referrals, on each occasion his case was assessed by counter-terror police but not then sent for specialist support. A public inquiry will also look to at any “missed opportunities” to identify his murderous intent.
Mark Winstanley, Assistant Chief Constable of Lancashire Police and also chair of Lancashire Children’s Safeguarding Assurance Partnership (CSAP), gave a briefing to journalists with more details about what was known of Rudakubana before the Southport attack.
Mr Winstanley said a review had found he became known to a range of services in 2019, initially due to his increasing anxiety and social isolation. This then developed into some “challenging behaviours”, he added – prompting police involvement over a three-year period from 2019 to 2022.
Firstly, on October 7, 2019, police received a referral from ChildLine regarding Rudakubana, over comments he had made to them. He had reported being bullied while a pupil at The Range High School, in Formby, near Southport, and said he had taken a knife from his kitchen to school on several occasions.
