Reform critical over Southport response as local MP welcomes guilty plea
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Home Secretary Yvette Cooper must appear in Parliament and account for why Axel Rudakubana’s terror links were not revealed sooner, Nigel Farage has signalled. The Reform UK leader was among the politicians critical of how the Government responded to the attack, as Patrick Hurley, the Labour MP for Southport, said Rudakubana’s guilty plea would spare the families of the three murder victims a lengthy trial.
On Monday – the first day of his trial – Rudakubana, 18, of Banks, Lancashire, pleaded guilty to the murders of three young girls in Southport last July. Summer riots which saw violence across the country were sparked by the stabbings carried out by Rudakubana.
He also admitted production of a biological toxin, ricin, on or before July 29, the date of the attack, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism. Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died following the attack at the Taylor Swift-themed class on a small business park in the seaside town shortly before midday on July 29.
The defendant, who was 17 at the time of the attack, admitted their murders as well as the attempted murders of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes. Mr Farage told the PA news agency a “vacuum of information” about the suspect had fuelled the riots, and claimed Reform UK had been blocked from asking questions about potential terror links to the attacks in the House of Commons.
