Downing Street has accepted all recommendations for changes made by an inquiry that found the Southport killings could have been prevented and identified “fundamental failings”, the home secretary has said.
As families of survivors demanded to see “hard evidence” of action, Shabana Mahmood said the government would do “whatever is needed to protect the public” as she accepted in full the recommendations from the first phase of the Southport inquiry.
It found the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, “could and should have been prevented” if agencies had taken steps to stop Axel Rudakubana, who was 17 when he carried out the attack on the dance class in July 2024.
A culture of agencies failing to take responsibility for extremist and violent behaviour would be overhauled by the government, the Home Office said.
Public bodies including the police, local authorities and the anti-radicalisation programme Prevent did not share crucial information, which meant that the police did not intervene when Rudakubana was found with a knife.
The inquiry chair, Sir Adrian Fulford, said there had been a “fundamental failure” by any organisation, or multi-agency arrangement, to take ownership of the risk Rudakubana posed in the years leading up to his attack.
In a 760-page report published in April, Fulford called for the end of what he described as a “culture” of agencies passing responsibility between each other or downgrading their own involvement.
He described it as the “single most important conclusion” of his report. “This failure lies at the heart of why [Rudakubana] was able to mount the attack, despite so many warning signs of his capacity for fatal violence.”
The attack “could and should have been prevented” if public bodies had taken steps to stop the killer, he said.
Rudakubana could have been arrested after being apprehended in March 2022, when he was found by Lancashire police officers on a bus with a knife.
His arrest could have led to his home being searched and “critical information” found about the ricin seeds he had bought and the terrorist manuals he had downloaded. Instead, he was returned to his family home in Banks, West Lancashire, and no criminal action was taken.
Fulford said that if Rudakubana’s parents had done “what they morally ought to have” and reported his suspicious behaviour, he would not have been free on the day of the attack.
But a “merry-go-round” of referrals, assessments and “hand-offs” – and his autism being used as an “excuse” for past conduct – meant no agency understood the danger he posed.
The second phase of the inquiry will consider the adequacy of multi-agency systems to address the risk posed by young people whose desire to commit acts of extreme violence presents a significant risk to public safety.
The government published its response to the findings of the first phase of the inquiry on Thursday.
Mahmood said: “The Southport inquiry identified fundamental failings, across many of our public services, in the years leading up to July 2024. These devastating failures led to the senseless killing of three young girls and violent attacks on others. My thoughts today are first and foremost with the families and friends of Bebe, Elsie and Alice and all the victims of that awful day. We owe it to them to right these wrongs.
“For that reason, we have accepted Sir Adrian’s recommendations for central government in full. My department will now drive this work across government, with the urgency it deserves. We will do whatever is needed to protect the public.”
Nicola Ryan-Donnelly, of Fletchers Solicitors, which represents the families of 22 survivors of the attack, said: “The families affected by this tragedy need to see firm timelines and detailed plans around how changes will be implemented, and how their impact will be measured.
“They want to be involved in conversations with these agencies to inform changes. And finally, this must not get lost when our new prime minister is decided – delivering on these promises must remain a priority for whoever comes into power.”
Nicola Brook, of the law firm Broudie Jackson Canter which represents the three adult survivors, said the first they had learned of the government’s response was in the media and that this was “not the approach of a government committed to putting the victims first”.
Brook said the multi-agency approach to tackling dangerous offenders had been “proven time and time again to fail” and that ministers must fix the “black hole in mental health funding” as a matter of urgency.
