Southport state failures ‘leap off the page’ as Keir Starmer warns ‘terrorism has changed’ .hh
The Prime Minister is giving a press conference from Downing Street.
Watch LIVE: Keir Starmer delivers statement on Southport attack
Sir Keir Starmer said the failure of state institutions in the case of the Southport killer “frankly leaps off the page”.
A public inquiry has been announced after Axel Rudakubana, 18, yesterday pleaded guilty to murdering three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July.
Despite contact with state agencies such as Prevent, authorities failed to stop the attack which claimed the lives of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference this morning, the Prime Minister said: “As part of the inquiry launched by the Home Secretary yesterday, I will not let any institution of the state deflect from their failure – failure which in this case, frankly, leaps off the page.
“For example, the perpetrator was referred to the Prevent programme on three separate occasions – in 2019 once and in 2021 twice.
The Prime Minister gives a press conference from Downing Street (Image: Getty Images)
Don’t miss… Southport killer Axel Rudakubana ‘referred to counter-terrorism police 3 times’ [LATEST]
“Yet, on each of these occasions, a judgment was made that he did not meet the threshold for intervention – a judgment that was clearly wrong and which failed those families. And I acknowledge that here today.”
Sir Keir added that the killings “must be a line in the sand for Britain”.
He said: “No words come anywhere close to expressing the brutality and horror in this case.
“Every parent in Britain will have had the same thought. It could have been anywhere, it could have been our children, but it was Southport. It was Bebe, six years old. Elsie, seven. Alice, nine.”
Trending
Sky News’ Kay Burley skewers stuttering Labour MP in on-air clashAdvertisement
The Prime Minister said the murders showed “terrorism has changed” with “acts of extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms”.
He added that he will change the law if necessary to tackle the “new and dangerous” threat.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch welcomed the inquiry but added: “But contrast his press conference in No10 this morning with the government silence in the days following the horrific attacks.
“There remain serious questions about the transparency of government information at the time of the unrest that followed these horrific killings.”
Most Popular Comments