Police officers have said Britain’s anti-terrorism scheme is unable to protect the public after three opportunities were missed to stop the Southport child murderer who stabbed three little girls to death from being radicalised.
Between 2019 and 2021, Axel Rudakubana was referred to Britain’s anti-terror scheme Prevent three times, but little was done to curb his obsession with violence.
In February 2024, the author of a review of Prevent said the government had not implemented its recommendations and the public was ‘at risk’.
Six months later, Rudakubana, then-17, walked into a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside, where little girls were making bracelets and singing songs.
Armed with a knife, he stabbed three girls to death and tried to murder ten others in a frenzied attack. This week he was jailed for at least 52 years.
Yet those on the frontline of the fight against crime are unsurprised. Speaking to MailOnline, current and former police officers said the UK was full of ‘ticking time bombs’ and Prevent was unable to protect the public.
Some officers, including a serving cop, even admitted they had never heard of the scheme.
Former police officer Norman Brennan told MailOnline: ‘Prevent needs huge investment. It needs to be known nationally. We have ticking time bombs all over Britain. These people need to be rooted out.
Axel Rudakubana was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 52 years for the murder of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, (left) Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, (centre) and Bebe King, six, (right) were killed in the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class at The Hart Space, Southport on July 29
Former police officer Norman Brennan (pictured) said there were ‘ticking time bombs’ all over the UK and the Prevent scheme needed better funding
‘It’s clear something very wrong has happened. [For Rudakubana] to be referred once at the age of 13 is very concerning. To be referred three times and nothing has happened?’
Since its inception, Prevent has failed to stop five killers, including ISIS fanatic Ali Harbi Ali who murdered MP David Amess and Plymouth gunman Jake Davison who killed five people in August 2021.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper have announced a public inquiry into Prevent, which has previously been reviewed with little effect on the scheme.
It will be the third time the scheme has been reviewed after multiple failures to stop terror attacks by perpetrators known to the Prevent scheme, including the 2017 London Bridge attack and the 2021 murder of MP David Amess.
Announcing a public inquiry into Prevent this week, the PM claimed the UK faced a ‘new threat’ of ‘loners, misfits [and] young men’ being radicalised online.
However, former police officer Brennan said the claim that this sort of radicalisation was new was not true.
He said: ‘I don’t think it is new. It has happened for a number of years. Shamima Begum for example. Look how easy it is to radicalise someone.
‘Young men that self-radicalise can do that on their computers and they fly below the radar.
The coffin of Southport attack victim Alice da Silva Aguiar is carried on a carriage after her funeral at St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Southport on August 11, 2024
Taylor Swift issued a statement following the attack, saying she had been left ‘completely in shock’ at the ‘loss of life and innocence… inflicted on everyone who was there’
‘Most people would not know about [Prevent]. There are children who are being radicalised. We have a duty to protect our citizens.
‘We have got to start taking terrorism more seriously than we have done.
‘The public are more concerned about anti-social behaviour than terrorism.
‘We need to be as or more concerned about people who self-radicalise.
‘We are seeing some atrocious murders abroad by knives and vehicles. We need to wake up to how serious the threat is from people who are not necessarily foreign but born in Britain, growing up around us.
‘It’s a bit like a goalkeeper – you can save many shots but only one needs to hit the back of the net to cause mayhem.
‘The government should put a documentary together so everyone knows what Prevent is all about.
‘The alarm bells must ring. We must be ahead of the game.’
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs that a review of Rudakubana’s contact with the programme found he had ‘admitted to having carried a knife more than ten times, yet the action against him was far too weak’.
She said he was referred to Prevent repeatedly because he was ‘expressing interest in school shootings, the London Bridge attack, the IRA, MI5 and the Middle East’.
Tablet computers at his home showed he downloaded papers on historical violence by the Nazis, Genghis Khan and even relatively obscure conflicts in French colonies during the 17th century – plus footage of beheadings and torture.
As well as the digital discoveries, a machete and scabbard, a set of arrows and a black holdall were found in Rudakubana’s bedroom at the family home in Banks, Lancashire, a village five miles north of Southport.
The Prevent review, conducted since the summer, has concluded that ‘too much weight was placed on the absence of ideology’ and that his case ‘should not have been closed’ by counter-terror police who were assessing whether he posed a threat.
Another former police officer, ex-Scotland Yard detective Steve Morris told MailOnline said he was ‘all too familiar with Prevent’.
A man leaves flowers at the scene of the attack on July 30, one day after Rudakubana stormed the class armed with a kitchen knife
Class instructor Leanne Lucas said she is paralysed by guilt about what happened, despite being attacked as she saved the lives of many children
Her fellow dance teacher Heidi Liddle (pictured) ‘locked children in the bathroom’ and ushered others to safety during the horrific attack
He said: ‘Prevent is under-funded, under-resourced and not always staffed by adequately trained and experienced personnel.
‘It will require a massive investment by this Government at a time when money is tight.
‘The reality is, without such a commitment the Police [and] Security Services will not be able to protect the public.’
Meanwhile, a serving police officer told MailOnline: ‘I truly know nothing about it.
‘I only heard about it after the Southport incident had happened.’
Another officer, who spent decades tackling serious crime, said: ‘I don’t know anything about the Prevent scheme. [I] never heard or came across it in my [time as an officer]. I think it’s a civil servant programme.’
A Home Office spokeswoman said: ‘Our thoughts remain with the families of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar and all those who were harmed by this truly abhorrent act.
‘Prevent remains a vital tool to stopping people from becoming terrorists taking almost 7,000 referrals per year, and supporting nearly 5,000 people away from radicalisation since the introduction of the statutory Prevent duty in 2015.
‘However, in this case opportunities were missed to intervene. That is why the interim Prevent Commissioner has been asked to review this case and a public inquiry has been announced to get to the root causes of what went wrong and ensure that this never happens again.’
