Counterterrorism police did not believe Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was at risk of being radicalised, a leaked Home Office report has revealed.
Officers will be criticised for failing to sufficiently take into account Rudakubana’s obsession with extreme violence when it judged that he was not “in danger of being radicalised” in the Prevent learning review, the Sunday Times reported.
Rudakubana, 18, was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years on Thursday after carrying out the depraved massacre of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29 last year.
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were all murdered by Rudakubana, who also tried to kill eight other children, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper announced a public inquiry to look into any “missed opportunities” in identifying Rudakubana’s murderous intent.
She has ordered a “thorough review” of Rudakubana’s three referrals to the Prevent counterterrorism scheme in the years before the attack. Six separate calls were also made to the police about the teen.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Ms Cooper said a review of referral thresholds to Prevent was under way, which will look at individuals “obsessed with school massacres” and also “Islamist extremism”.
Ms Cooper wrote: “Where individuals are suspected to be neurodiverse, interventions should not stop because they are awaiting assessments, ignoring any risks they might pose.”
Rudakubana was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by local health authorities.
Ms Cooper added that there was a “serious problem” when cases did not pass the Prevent threshold but other local agencies, including social and mental health services, failed to step in.
The killer had previously attacked a pupil with a hockey stick, looked up the London Bridge terror attack on school computers, and carried a knife onto a bus and into class before he carried out the horrific murders.
Knives, archery arrows and ricin - a biological toxin 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide - were discovered when Rudakubana’s home was raided after the attack. Evidence suggests the equipment needed for the substance was bought in 2022.
