Police were called to Rudakubana’s home five times before Southport attacks, Yvette Cooper says
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Multiple agencies failed to identify the ‘terrible danger’ posed by the 18-year-old, the home secretary said, announcing a new public inquiry into the murder of three girls in Southport. Lancashire Police responded to five calls from Axel Rudakubana’s home about his behaviour before the Southport attacks took place, Yvette Cooper has revealed, as she said multiple agencies failed to identify the “terrible danger” he posed.
![[Axel Rudakubana]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/21/12/41a432f035a2625258a91cf485ef1b79Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM3NTQ5NTg1-2.78748434.jpg)
Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, the home secretary offered more details on the child killer’s background and announced a new public inquiry into the murders he committed of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. She said the government will “consider the wider challenge of rising youth violence” and that requests will be made to tech companies to remove online material accessed by the 18-year-old.
![[Sir Keir Starmer gave a statement in London on Tuesday]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/21/11/54279164638_8592e751be_o.jpg)
The home secretary also said the government has ordered a “thorough review” of the Rudakubana’s referrals to the Prevent anti-terror programme “to identify what changes are needed to make sure serious cases are not missed”. It comes after the prime minister said Britain faces a new threat of terrorism from “extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms”.
Giving a statement in London, Sir Keir Starmer said the law and framework for responding needed to be appropriate to the “new threat” and whatever changes were necessary in the law would be made. Rudakubana pleaded guilty on Monday to the murders of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva, nine, in Southport last July.
