Merseyside’s outgoing top cop blames online agitators for riots after Southport attacks

In the wake of the murders of Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7 and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, 9, Serena Kennedy's force faced intense criticism for not releasing details of the 17-year-old attacker’s background more quickly - with the rumour mill then claiming he was an asylum seeker who was known to MI6.

An initial statement said: “A 17-year-old male from Banks in Lancashire, who was born in Cardiff, has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder and has been taken to a police station where he will be interviewed by detectives".

What followed was violence which spread across the country.

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As she prepares to leave her role as Chief Constable, Ms Kennedy has been reflecting on that period:

“It was an utterly devastating time”, she said.

“You just can't begin to imagine. I always think about the families of Elsie, Bebe and Alice and the families of the other ten people that were injured and those little girls who witnessed things that they should never have witnessed before.

“It was a really difficult time for the force, for all of our first responders, for our partners and for our communities. There was a lot of criticism in terms of Merseyside Police, but I'm incredibly proud of the officers who on that day ran towards danger, but there was instantly that misinformation and disinformation out there.

“The people to blame for the disorder are those conspiracy theorists who were putting out disinformation, completely incorrect information online. It was those people who took the decision to come out onto the streets of Merseyside and commit acts, criminal acts, from the off.

"The first brick was thrown at the mosque in Southport 20 minutes after the vigil ended, you know, utterly appalling. And then the hatred shown towards my officers, just disgusting".

She later revealed how she had wanted to say more but had been advised by the Crown Prosecution Service not to. A statement on October 29th said:

“I am sure you will all appreciate that we need to make sure we do not prejudice any trial.

“You may have seen speculation online that the police are deciding to keep things from the public. This is certainly not the case.

"We have been given extensive guidance by the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to what we can say publicly to ensure the integrity of the court proceedings are protected, and therefore we are restricted in what we can share with you now, whilst the proceedings are live.”

Looking back, she told LBC: “I have said right from day one, my priority was to get justice for the families of those three little girls and the other people that were affected by what happened, and I was not going to do anything that would undermine the chance of getting a fair trial.

Ms Kennedy also revealed how she'd been on the receiving end of vile attacks on social media.

She said: "The abuse that I got online last summer was absolutely horrific.

"Thousands and thousands and thousands of vile comments, questioning my ability as a chief constable, calling for my resignation, calling for me to be sacked, and my colleagues across the country, both male and female, are subject to that abuse online when they're dealing with a high-profile incident.

"However, the difference is that senior females - I say senior female police officers, but also I would say senior females who are in the public view - are subject to very personal abuse as well in terms of their appearance, their sexuality, how they identify, their gender.

"That is something very different that our male colleagues don't experience in the same way and with the same voracity and vileness.

“In terms of learning to come out of Southport, obviously, there’s the ongoing public inquiry and there will be learning to come out for all of the partners that were involved in that situation.

“But also actually in terms of working with the criminal justice system, working with the Home Office, working with the government around, how do we combat misinformation and disinformation in the current climate, when it's so quick for something to take off on social media?”

“Let's face it, the majority of the community were absolutely appalled (by what happened) and they were in shock. They were quite rightly grieving, they wanted to come out, they wanted to lay flowers. We are talking around a really small minority who came out and committed acts of violence, criminal damage, real hatred causing that fear within our community”.

Despite claims of two-tier policing and a lack of transparency, the Chief Constable says confidence in her officers has been unaffected.

“The impact on trust and confidence in policing, actually there was some really positive feedback around Merseyside Police in terms of the way in which we dealt with that situation. And when we've surveyed nationally, there was actually no net gain or loss in terms of trust and confidence. Overall, it stayed about the same", she said.

“I think what was so pleasing was when we went up to Southport after the disorder on the Tuesday night, and the people who came out of their homes, the people who came out of their businesses to help that community turned up with their dustpan and brushes and their brooms and whatever tools they had to put right, the damage that had been caused the previous evening. They're the people of Southport, they're the people of Merseyside, they're the people who really care about their communities.

“The message was really clear from them. That is not us. We don't stand for hatred. And actually, you know, I think there's been a real unity - communities coming together and united through what's happened.”

Serena Kennedy will hand over the reigns to her successor Rob Carden next week but admits there are many challenges ahead in terms of policing protests and ongoing public unrest.

She said: “It's really challenging for policing at this moment in time, but communities have the right to come out and lawfully and peacefully protest. We will work with those groups to enable them to do that, as we did at the weekend, as we did last weekend. And likewise, people have the right to come out and counter protest and have their views heard.

“The role of policing is not to decide who is right, who is wrong. The role of policing is to keep our communities safe and we will continue to do that. But it's really difficult for the officers who are faced with that challenge where people come out and protest lawfully and peacefully.

"We will engage, we will facilitate that. It's when it becomes criminal, unlawful and not peaceful and it is disrupting our communities, that's what we won't tolerate”.