Keir Starmer to address the nation on Axel Rudakubana after full horrors of teen’s past revealed
Sir Keir Starmer is to address the nation on Axel Rudakubana on Tuesday morning at 8.30am after it was revealed that the killer teenager had been referred to a Government anti-extremism scheme three times before the Southport stabbings.
It comes after the Home Secretary announced a public inquiry into the 18-year-old who carried out an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Yvette Cooper said the inquiry would examine how Rudakubana “came to be so dangerous” and why the Prevent programme failed to identify the risks he posed.
The announcement comes after his involvement with multiple state agencies during his teenage years came under scrutiny.
Cooper revealed that Rudakubana had “contact with a range of different state agencies throughout his teenage years” before conducting his “meticulously planned rampage”.
The Home Secretary’s announcement has highlighted concerns about how the teenager’s interactions with authorities failed to prevent the attack.
Lancashire Child Safeguarding Partnership has confirmed Rudakubana had been involved with multiple agencies prior to the attack.
These included children’s social care, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and police.
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A spokesman for the partnership said an independent child safeguarding practice review had been commissioned.
The review will examine the roles of all agencies that had contact with Rudakubana as a teenager.
In a statement, Copper said: “The families and the people of Southport need answers about what happened leading up to this attack.
“The perpetrator was in contact with a range of different state agencies throughout his teenage years. He was referred three times to the Prevent programme between December 2019 and April 2021 aged 13 and 14.
“He also had contact with the police, the courts, the Youth Justice system, social services and mental health services.
“Yet between them, those agencies failed to identify the terrible risk and danger to others that he posed.”
Starmer previously said there are “grave questions” to answer about how the state failed the Southport murder victims.
He added: “Britain will rightly demand answers, and we will leave no stone unturned in that pursuit.”