Merseyside Police explain why Southport stabbings were 'not treated as terrorism'

-Credit:Liverpool Echo
-Credit:Liverpool Echo


Axel Rudakubana today admitted the murders of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Da Silva Aguiar in the Southport stabbings. The 18-year-old, of Banks in West Lancashire, was due to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court this morning, Monday, accused of murdering the three little girls, who died aged six, seven and nine respectively.

The murders at the Hart Space on July 29 this year represents one of the most harrowing crimes in Merseyside’s history, in which young children who had otherwise been innocently enjoying their summer holidays were brutally killed, horrifically injured or left traumatised by the appalling violence that unfolded in front of their eyes.

Rudakubana was further charged with attempting to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and two adults, Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, who were also stabbed during the incident but survived the attack.

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READ MORE: Lancashire Child Safeguarding say Axel Rudakubana received support for 'increased anxiety' before Southport murders

READ MORE: Five words Axel Rudakubana spoke when he first arrived at court before falling silent

Following Rudakubana's guilty pleas, Merseyside Police's Chief Constable Serena Kennedy addressed the reason the case was not treated as terrorism. In a statement she said: “Our thoughts today are with the families of Bebe, Elsie, and Alice and the children and adults who were injured and seriously traumatised. For the last few weeks the families have been preparing themselves for a full trial and we can only imagine how difficult that will have been for them.

Hundreds of tributes have continued to mount in memory of the young girls killed in the Southport stabbings
Southport knife attack tributes in the town centre outside The Atkinson Gallery. Photo by Colin Lane

"The saving grace from what has happened at court today is that they will not have to listen to extensive and traumatic evidence, which would have only brought back the horror of what they went through on Monday 29 July 2024 and will live with for the rest of their lives.

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"On that sunny day those gorgeous little girls and their loving families were obliviously unaware of what Axel Rudakubana had planned, they were enjoying a lovely morning, when he struck and ruined the lives of 29 families forever.

“The investigation team has worked solidly to build up a strong evidential case to provide to the CPS and although we will never know why he did it. What we can say is that he was a man with a unhealthy obsession with extreme violence.

"We know that he had researched numerous documents online which show that obsession. What we can say is that from all those documents no one ideology was uncovered, and that is why this was not treated as terrorism.

"During the investigation the team carried out extensive and thorough inquiries and during that time:

•Processed 1655 documents through the Major Incident Team
•Interviewed 547 witnesses including 19 doctors/consultants; 62 North West Ambulance Service personnel and, 10 Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service fire AND rescue officers
•Obtained 405 statements
•Examined 80 pieces of CCTV footage
•Seized 43 devices of which 32 were suitable for download
•Reviewed 159,166 messages
•Recovered 164,394 documents from digital devices
•Recovered a total of 1244 exhibits

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“There is no doubt in my mind that Merseyside Police has conducted a thorough and extensive investigation focussed on bringing justice for the families. We have been accused of purposely withholding information, this is absolutely not the case.

“From day one we have been as open as we possibly could and have constantly been in touch with the CPS who have advised us on what information could be released. We have wanted to say much more to show we were being open and transparent, but we have been advised throughout that we couldn’t do so as it would risk justice being delivered.

“We know from our investigation that Axel Rudakubana was known to a range of services prior to the incident in Southport. The Lancashire Child Safeguarding Partnership has commissioned an independent Child Safeguarding Practice Review to look at the roles of all the agencies involved with Axel Rudakubana, their interaction with him and his family and to identify if there is any learning which could assist the collective safeguarding practice. Merseyside Police is committed to working with our partners to understand the learning from this case.”

Axel Rudakubana
Axel Rudakubana

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing Matt Jukes, said: “Across Counter Terrorism Policing, the families devastated by Axel Rudakubana’s actions are in our thoughts today. Since July 29, our focus has been to support Merseyside Police in their investigation, and secure justice for the victims and their loved ones.

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“Throughout this complex and large-scale investigation, we have been relentless in our pursuit of evidence as to why he attacked defenceless children on that day. This has included specialist support in forensic examinations of his home address and digital devices, with witness interviews and intelligence gathering.

“Despite that we have not been able to identify why he carried out these attacks. Our work with Merseyside Police has uncovered a wide interest in conflict, violence, genocide, and terrorism, and that he had accessed a wide range of online material related to these topics.

“We also know that he had contact with a range of services, and that includes the counter terrorism Prevent system. We can now confirm today that a total of three referrals were made by education providers to the Prevent scheme between December 2019 and April 2021.

“Information about these referrals have not been withheld due to any lack of candour. We have taken advice from the Crown Prosecution Service on what information could be released and when, so as not to risk justice being delivered.

“Now that Rudakubana has pleaded guilty, it is our commitment to share the details of these referrals and how they were responded to, alongside the examination of his contact with other agencies. The same determination we have shown in the investigation will now be applied to examining how the range of agencies involved with Rudakubana did not come together effectively to identify and deal with the risk he posed.

"We will be open and determined in pursuing the questions raised by this tragic case, incorporating insights from our wider work”. Rudakubana will be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday this week (January 23).