Rapid review finds Axel Rudakubana should have been managed through scheme to spot potential terrorists. The Southport killer’s interest in knives and mass atrocities should have been managed through the government’s official scheme to spot potential terrorists but his case was closed “prematurely”, the security minister has told MPs. A rapid learning review of the Prevent programme, put before the Commons on Wednesday, has criticised counter-terrorism officers for failing to properly take into account Axel Rudakubana’s obsession with extreme violence.

The 18-year-old was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years – one of the highest minimum terms on record – for murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a dance class in Southport on 29 July last year. He also attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as the class instructor Leanne Lucas and the businessman John Hayes.

Dan Jarvis, the Home Office minister in charge of the Prevent programme, said: “The Prevent learning review found that there was sufficient risk for the perpetrator to have been managed through Prevent. “It found that the referral was closed prematurely, and there was sufficient concern to keep the case active while further information was collected.”. He told MPs that the Prevent programme knew that Rudakubana had been caught carrying a knife in 2019, and searched on the internet for school shootings, London bombings, the IRA and the Israel-Palestine conflict, between December 2019 and April 2021.

The minister said: “I can update the house that the perpetrator was referred to Prevent three times between December 2019 when he was aged 13 and April 2021 when he was 14. Those referrals were made by his schools. “The first referral reported concerns about him carrying a knife and searching for school shootings on the internet. The second referral was focused on his online activity relating to Libya and Gaddafi. His third referral was for searching for London bombings, the IRA and the Israel-Palestine conflict.

“On each of these occasions, the decision at the time was that the perpetrator should not progress to the channel multi-agency process.”. The Guardian disclosed that Rudakubana was referred to the counter-extremism programme on three occasions between December 2019 and April 2021. It also emerged that counter-terrorism officers closed his case because they believed he had an interest in world news and current affairs but no cause or political belief, and was “not in danger of being radicalised”.

The review found there was enough evidence for Prevent officers assessing each of his three referrals to the counter-extremism programme to escalate his case to Channel, the next stage of the scheme that intervenes to divert individuals from radicalisation. Participating with Prevent and Channel programmes is voluntary. Cooper has said she will introduce new terrorism orders for youngsters who refuse to engage with Prevent. The new youth diversion orders will ban children as young as 10 from using the internet or engaging in forums.

Under-18s who breach an order will be fined and given a community sentence of up to six months in custody while those aged between 18 and 21 will face up to two years in prison. The mandatory orders will be deployed alongside the Prevent programme in order to strengthen the action taken against individuals such as Rudakubana, who police said had an “unhealthy obsession with extreme violence”. Rudakubana carried out his attack with a kitchen knife bought on Amazon. Cooper has said that she is considering proposals backed by Idris Elba and surgeons to ban kitchen knives having a pointed end, in an attempt to tackle knife crime.