What is a public inquiry and what will it tell us about Axel Rudakubana?

The government has announced that a public inquiry will be held into Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana and how he was able to commit the horrific murders of three little girls in the town.

Following his guilty plea yesterday, huge questions are being asked of the role the authorities and security services played after it was revealed that Rudakubana was referred to the Prevent programme - which aims to stop individuals becoming terrorists - on three separate occasions before he committed the murders. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced yesterday (Monday) that there will be a public inquiry to investigate how Rudakubana “came to be so dangerous” and why the Prevent scheme “failed to identify the terrible risk” he posed to others.

Today Sir Keir Starmer said the 'Westminster system' was slow to react to the threat of Rudakubana, adding: "I'm angry about it. Nothing will be off the table in this inquiry." Here is a what we know so far about the inquiry.

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What is a public inquiry?

According to the Institute for Government, public inquiries are major investigations – convened by a government minister – that can be gifted special powers to compel testimony and the release of other forms of evidence.

The only justification required for a public inquiry is the existence of “public concern” about a particular event or set of events. Inquiries have addressed a range of subjects from transport accidents, fires, the mismanagement of pension funds, self-inflicted deaths in custody, outbreaks of disease, and decision-making that has led to war. More recently we have seen inquiries held into the Grenfell Tower Fire and the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.

What is the scope of a public inquiry?

Statutory public inquiries operate in line with the provisions of the Inquiries Act 2005 and the Inquiry Rules 2006. Each public inquiry begins when its terms of reference are set out - which are specific instructions setting out the questions this particular inquiry wants to answer and the information it is looking to examine.

An inquiry will usually make recommendations to try to prevent what has gone wrong from happening again. The government will then decide if it wishes to take those recommendations forward and when.

What has been announced regarding the Southport inquiry?

On Monday the Home Secretary announced that a public inquiry will be held to investigate how Axel Rudakubana "came to be so dangerous" and why the Prevent scheme failed to identify the 'terrible risk' that he posed to others. Ms Cooper said: “we need to face up to why this has been happening and what needs to change”.

Speaking today, the Prime Minister said the state had failed the victims of the Southport attack and their families and had 'grave questions' to answer.

What contact did Prevent have with Rudakubana?

Undoubtedly one of the key area for the inquiry to look at will be the contact Rudakubana had with Prevent - the government scheme aimed at stopping individuals becoming terrorists - and why the programme failed in this case.

It has been revealed that he was referred three times to the programme before his horrific act last July, the first time when he was just 13. Ms Cooper said: "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.”

When will the inquiry be, who will run it and how long will it last for?

While public inquiries are funded and commissioned by the government, they are run independently. A chair person will be formally announced to run the Southport inquiry in due course. This person is often a judge. Inquiries can last for years and cost a lot of money.

In terms of when it will be held, it is difficult to say. Looking at a recent example, the Thirlwell inquiry into the murders of nurse Lucy Letby started on in September 2024, around 13 months after Letby was convicted.