Southport killer Axel Rudakubana showed 'sufficient risk' but Prevent closed cases 'prematurely'
There was “sufficient risk” posed by Southport killer Axel Rudakubana to keep his cases within the Prevent programme active and these were “closed prematurely”, Home Office minister Dan Jarvis has said.
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 Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29 last year.
He also attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
Three separate referrals were made to the counter-terrorism programme Prevent about Rudakubana’s behaviour in the years before the attack, as well as six separate calls to police.
These involved concerns around him carrying a knife and searching for school shootings, online activity related to Libya and Colonel Gaddafi and internet searches around the London bombings and the IRA.
“On each of these occasions, the decision at the time was that the perpetrator should not progress to the channel multi-agency process,” Mr Jarvis told MPs.
“But 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.”
The Barnsley North MP also revealed that Rudakubana was interested in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2016 that killed 22 people, and had talked to others about stabbing people.
He said: “The review concluded that too much focus was placed on the absence of a distinct ideology, to the detriment of considering the perpetrator’s susceptibility, grievances and complex needs.
“There was an under-exploration of the significance of his repeat referrals, and the cumulative risk, including his history of violence.”
The Government has accepted all 14 recommendations for improvements in the Prevent learning review that focused on Rudakubana, Mr Jarvis said, as he identified Islamist extremism as the most dangerous terror threat to the UK.
The security minister said counter-terror police have visited all Prevent areas across the country to see if there are outstanding issues identified in the report.
He told MPs that the Government has begun an internal review of the Prevent thresholds, which will be completed in April.