Government engaging with Southport families ahead of Prevent learning review

The Government is engaging with the families of the Southport attack victims ahead of a Prevent review into its dealings with Axel Rudakubana, Downing Street has said.

The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that the Prevent learning review will criticise counter-terrorism officers for failing to properly take into account Rudakubana’s obsession with extreme violence when it is released, the Sunday Times has reported.

The 18-year-old was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years last week – one of the highest minimum terms on record – for murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a dance class in Southport 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.

Asked whether the review will be published this week, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said on Monday: “You’ll recognise that the families of the victims of the terrible attack have a significant amount to absorb after such a traumatic week.

“We’re fully committed to publishing the findings from the Prevent learning review as soon as possible, but we’re taking time to engage with the families, to consider their views.”

Three separate referrals were made to the Government’s anti-terror programme, Prevent, about Rudakubana’s behaviour in the years before the attack, as well as six separate calls to police.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle wrote to tech firms over the weekend to tell them they have “a moral responsibility to act now” on violent content.

In the letter, Elon Musk’s X, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, TikTok, Google and YouTube were called on to “urgently review” material accessed by killer Rudakubana which is still available online.

Under the UK’s Online Safety Act, from March, platforms will be required to remove illegal content, including violent material.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said there is “no justification” for tech companies waiting for new laws to kick before they remove violent material from their sites.

Asked whether the Prime Minister believes that the Online Safety Act goes far enough, the spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has always said that keeping children, keeping communities safe, is always our number one priority.”

He described the Online Safety Act as “strong new powers to compel platforms to remove illegal content.

“It will also bring in new rules to protect children from content that is legal but not appropriate for them to be viewing, including violent content. So there will be strong new laws coming in, but we always keep that under review.”

Before leaving home, Rudakubana had searched online for “Mar Mari Emmanuel stabbing” – the knife attack on a bishop in Sydney, Australia, in April last year.

The graphic video was removed in Australia but is still available to view in the UK, Ms Cooper and Mr Kyle said.

Meanwhile, police have warned it could take years to uncover what was in the killer’s internet browsing history, which he deleted before he left the house to carry out the atrocity.

To obtain the information, detectives needed to go through US companies Microsoft, which owns the search engine Bing, and Google, which owns the web browser Chrome.

A Microsoft spokesperson said: “This is a tragic case and our sympathies are with the victims, their families and all those affected. In a threat to life scenario, when we receive a request from law enforcement through our direct channels, we respond within 20 minutes and work together to share relevant information as quickly as possible.”

According to Google, the police could have applied through the UK courts for an overseas production order which, if granted, would have meant the data was produced more quickly.

A spokesman said earlier this week the company was in touch with Merseyside Police to support their inquiries and that its “deepest sympathies are with all of the families and individuals affected by this horrific attack”.