British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke at Downing Street on Tuesday as the public enquiry into the Southport tragedy began.
The minister expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and assured the public that the government will do everything possible to prevent such incidents in the future.
On July 29, 2024, 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana attacked a local dance class with a knife. Three girls – six-year-old Bibi King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stankomb and nine-year-old Alice Dasilwa Aguiar – were killed, while several others were injured and traumatised but survived.
The incident started riots in Southport and other cities in England, protesters attacked local mosques and a number of other institutions where immigrants could live and work. The riots were sparked by misleading information about the identity of the attacker that began circulating on social media.
The reports claimed that Rudakubana was a refugee who had arrived in the UK illegally in 2023. Police later revealed the name of the accused and his background: the teenager was born in Cardiff and his family is from Rwanda. The riots ended with mass arrests of the troublemakers, many receiving serious sentences for inciting hatred.
On Monday, Axel Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty to the murder of three girls and the attempted murder of eight children and two adults. In addition, he confessed to possessing terrorist materials, manufacturing the biological toxin ricin and carrying weapons. The young man’s sentence will be announced on Thursday.
The start of a public enquiry into the Southport tragedy also became known on Monday. Its end date is unknown, but the authorities have pledged to take action as soon as possible. In his speech, Keir Starmer noted that the crime committed by Rudakubana revealed serious shortcomings in the way the child protection process was organised.
In addition, the prime minister drew attention to new forms of terrorism, saying that previously the threats came only from terrorist organisations, but now violence can be committed by anyone who finds the necessary information on the Internet. Starmer also confirmed the intention to review and change the laws on counter-terrorism, if necessary, and also criticised the work of the state Prevent programme, which failed to prevent the tragedy, despite the fact that the suspect had previously come to the attention of the authorities.
Between December 2019 and April 2021, Rudakubanu was referred to the state programme three times because of his increased interest in violent acts. The teenager was expelled from his previous school in October 2019 at the age of 13. One of the incidents that led to the expulsion was a call to a hotline – at the time Rudakubana said he was going to take a knife to school because of racial bullying.
In December, he returned to the school with a hockey stick, attacked a student and broke his wrist; Rudakubana was then able to be restrained by one of the teachers. Between October 2019 and May 2022, police responded to calls of concern about his behaviour five times.
