Axel Rudakubana should have been treated as a terror threat after showing a fascination in the Manchester Arena bombing and mass stabbings, a government review has found.
The Southport killer was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years for murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class 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 Prevent about Rudakubana’s behaviour in the years before the attack as well as six separate calls to police.
Announcing the findings of the review, Security minister Dan Jarvis told MPs that Rudakubana had already discussed the Manchester Arena bombing and stabbing people when Prevent ‘prematurely’ closed his case.
The review criticised officers for placing ‘too much focus’ on the absence of a clear terrorist ideology and failing to explore the reasons for his repeated referrals.
It also found there was enough evidence for Prevent officers to refer Rudakubana to the next stage of the scheme, called Channel, which aims to divert individuals from being radicalised.
Axel Rudakubana murdered three young girls at a Taylor Swift themed dance class in Southport
Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar were murdered in the atrocity
Outlining one of its ‘learning points’ from the case, the report stated: ‘It is the opinion of the reviewer that there was sufficient information to refer this case to Channel, especially given AMR’s [Rudakubana’s] age and complex needs.
‘His engagement with an ideology was unknown and this work should have been carried out under the umbrella of Channel and the case referred to the Dovetail Channel Coordinator to complete the multiagency information gathering.
‘This would have allowed the multi-agency partnership to convene to discuss the case within the context of AMR’s vulnerability to being drawn into terrorism.’
Addressing the Commons today, Mr Jarvis told MPs: ‘We must get Prevent right. That is why the Home Office and counter-terrorism policing commissioned a rapid Prevent learning review immediately after the attack.
‘These are usually internal technical reviews intended to identify swift learning and improvement for Prevent but the importance of the families needing answers has meant that today, following close engagement with the families, we are taking the unusual step of publishing the Prevent learning review.
‘I can update the House that the perpetrator was referred to Prevent three times between December 2019 when he was aged 13 and April 2021 when he was 14. Those referrals were made by his schools.
‘The first referral reported concerns about him carrying a knife and searching for school shootings on the internet. The second referral was focused on his online activity relating to Libya and Gaddafi. His third referral was for searching for London bombings, the IRA and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
‘On each of these occasions, the decision at the time was that the perpetrator should not progress to the channel multi-agency process. 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.’
Two Apollo Cerbera knives with 20cm blades, one still in its sheath, were recovered days after Rudakubana bought them on Amazon
Rudakubana’s lunchbox of Ricin which had the potential to kill as many as 12,500 people
Mr Jarvis described how Rudakubana was interested in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2016 that killed 22 people and had talked to others about stabbing people.
The security minister said too much emphasis was put on a lack of an ideology behind Rudakubana’s interests, which meant he was not put further through the Prevent programme.
‘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,’ he said.
‘There was an under-exploration of the significance of his repeat referrals, and the cumulative risk, including his history of violence.
‘The overall conclusion of the review is that he should have been case managed through the channel multi-agency process, rather than closed to Prevent. This would have enabled to co-ordinated multi-agency risk management and support.’
The minister said that the Government had accepted all the 14 recommendations made by the review.
He said that said counter-terror police have visited all Prevent areas across the country to see if there are outstanding issues identified in the report.
Mr Jarvis also revealed that the Government has begun an internal review of the Prevent thresholds, which will be completed in April.
Idris Elba, who is pictured visiting Number 10 in September, has called for kitchen knives with pointed tips to be banned
Mr Jarvis said that a separate Prevent review into the 2021 killing of Southend West Conservative MP Sir David Amess would be released next week.
And he committed the Government to publishing future independent Prevent learning reviews into incidents of national importance.
‘Transparency and enabling public scrutiny is also fundamental, and that is why we will take steps to publish the findings of other independent Prevent learning reviews where there has been an incident of national significance,’ Mr Jarvis told MPs.
‘Next week we will publish the Prevent learning review into the appalling attack into Sir David Amess, to enable further public scrutiny of this important programme.’
Responding to the statement by Mr Jarvis, shadow home secretary Chris Philp called for the inquiry into Rudakubana’s case to consider his past mental health interventions.
Mr Philp asked Mr Jarvis to ‘confirm that it will be a statutory inquiry’, adding: ‘That is important so it has powers to compel witnesses to attend, take evidence under oath, and obtain documents. It is vital we get to the truth about the opportunities which may have existed to stop Rudakubana committing these sickening murders.’
Turning to the Nottingham triple killer Valdo Calocane, Mr Philp told the Commons: ‘Both Rudakubana and Calocane could potentially have been sectioned and detained under the Mental Health Act, and if that had happened perhaps these murders could have been avoided.’
In his response, Mr Jarvis said: ‘Let me confirm to him in response to his question that it will begin on a non-statutory footing. That is deliberate in order to get it up and moving as quickly as possible but it will then be moved onto a statutory footing, so I can give him that assurance.’
Ms Cooper has she is considering the actor’s proposal
He added: ‘The precise terms of reference of the inquiry are still being agreed because that is a process that we need to agree and discuss with the family members, but I completely understand why he’s made that point and also I completely understand why he’s referenced the terrible attacks that took place in Nottingham and I can say to him, as he may know, that this Government is supporting an inquiry into the attacks which took place in Nottingham.’
It is currently voluntary to take part in the Prevent and Channel programmes, but Yvette Cooper has said the Government will introduce new terror orders for young people who refuse to engage with them as part of the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill.
Children as young as 10 could be restricted from using the internet under the new youth diversion orders, or face a fine and community sentence of up to six months, the Times reported.
Others aged 18-21 will face up to two years in prison for breaching the order, it added.
The Home Secretary also told the paper plans to ban kitchen knives with a pointed end being advocated by actor and campaigner Idris Elba were also being considered in a bid to tackle knife crime.
Ms Cooper said: ‘We are looking at the point that Idris Elba has made… we will look at any issue that might make children safer.
‘This is an issue that Idris has raised. It’s also an issue [raised by] surgeons who have dealt with knife crime. Victims have also raised this as well in the past. So that’s why we are looking at it.’
The head of Counter-Terrorism Policing, Matt Jukes, said of the review into the handling of Rudakubana before his attack: ‘We have taken the unprecedented step of publishing the review.
‘It describes decisions made in line with policy in place at the time, in a system that was not equipped to deal with emerging risks that were very different to those it had been built to address.
‘In this case, there were at least 15 contact points with public services – health, education and social care systems, and the police.
‘We want to see a system where every one of those contacts counts, and where the sum total of all of them taken together is seen as the red flag that it should be.’
Mr Jukes said that cases where young people are drawn into extreme violence online, combined with mental health and social challenges, should have ‘a clear home’ rather than being passed between organisations.
