‘Failings under your watch!’ Ellie Costello furiously grills Tory MP on Southport murders
GB News presenter Ellie Costello grilled Tory MP Matt Vickers over the Southport stabbings, highlighting multiple missed opportunities to prevent the tragedy.
“There were a number of failings, failings under your watch which you must be able to accept responsibility for”, Ellie fumed during the heated exchange.
She pointed out that Axel Rudakubana had received three Prevent referrals, multiple police callouts, and school concerns about knife possession.
She cited reports from The Times revealing “15 chances to stop him”, demanding answers about why public services failed to intervene.
The GB News host asked: “It is a failing of our public services, isn’t it, that we did not stop this violent man from committing what went on to be the most horrific act against children?”
Tory MP Matt Vickers said: “I would agree there’s been failings here. In real terms, there is an argument where I’m not sure how much a minister would get to see.
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“I wasn’t in government but I’m not sure how much a minister would get to see or not see.
“We have experts, professionals employed in these organisations like Prevent who hopefully are able to stop these things.
“They should be there looking at the evidence that comes forward, we’ve got to have this review now because we’ve got to find out what went wrong.
“Either here there’s someone failed to do their job or have we not got somebody doing the right job?
“We’ve got to get to the bottom of that to make sure this can never happen ever again.”
In July last year, three young girls were murdered during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.
Rudakubana, now 18, from Banks in west Lancashire, has pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder earlier this week.
He also admitted one charge of possession of a knife and two terror-related charges.
The teenager had been referred to the Prevent programme three times between 2019 and 2021 over his obsession with violence.
Lancashire Constabulary had responded to five calls from his home address between October 2019 and May 2022.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced a public inquiry into the missed opportunities to stop Rudakubana.
Cooper stated that public bodies had “completely failed to identify the terrible danger” posed by the attacker.
The inquiry will be given all necessary powers to assess whether red flags were missed.