Sir Keir Starmer has denied being part of a “cover up” over the Southport knife attack in which three young girls were murdered, insisting he kept secret the killer’s violent background to ensure he faced justice.
The prime minister faced questions at a press conference on Tuesday about what he knew about attacker Axel Rudakubana after the stabbings, which also included the attempted murders of eight more children and two adults at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
After announcing an inquiry into how the state failed to identify the risk posed by Rudakubana, Sir Keir took head on claims that he had concealed information in the wake of the killings last July.
The PM admitted that he knew in the wake of the attack that Rudakubana was known to the authorities and that the 18-year-old had produced biological toxin ricin and possessed an Al Qaeda training manual for three years titled Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants.
But he said he could not disclose the information without collapsing Rudakubana’s trial due to contempt of court laws, which would have seen the killer walk away “a free man”.
He has faced claims of a cover up from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and the Conservatives, who accused the PM of “withholding information about the perpetrator”.
Speaking to Times Radio on Tuesday, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “I think it’s just important the inquiry looks at all of this, gets to the truth both about what happened beforehand, but critically also the Government’s response afterwards, and what they knew when and whether they should have put more information into the public domain.
“It appears they withheld information about the perpetrator, potentially, on CPS advice.”
But, hitting back at a Downing Street press conference, Sir Keir said: “If this trial had collapsed because I or anyone else had revealed crucial details, while the police were investigating, while the case was being built, while we were awaiting a verdict, then the vile individual who committed these crimes would have walked away a free man.
“The prospect of justice, destroyed for the victims and their families. I would never do that, and nobody would ever forgive me if I had. That is why the law of this country forbade me or anyone else from disclosing details sooner.”
But Mr Farage accused Sir Keir of “once again hiding behind the contempt of court argument”.
“This is simply untrue, the country needed to know the truth about this murderer and that he was known to the authorities,” the Reform leader said.
He added: “Even MPs were banned from asking questions about this man’s background. Cover up Keir convinces no one.”
Six-year-old Bebe King and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe were killed in the attack on 29 July 2024, while nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar died from her injuries in hospital a day later.
The decision to withhold information about the killer came as riots erupted in the wake of the attack, fuelled by misinformation about his identity on social media, including the claim that Welsh-born Rudakubana was an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat.
Mr Farage has previously claimed that disorder following the murders last July may not have happened if the public had been told the truth about Rudakubana from the start.
He said: “There has been a gigantic cover-up from day one. The authorities knew very, very quickly about his expulsion from school, the ricin-making and the al-Qaeda material, yet they refused to class the murders as terror-related for fear of the reaction there might have been.”
And, following Sir Keir’s press conference, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the government’s inquiry into the tragedy must focus on what the government chose to disclose to the public and why.
She said: “The Prime Minister’s announcement of an inquiry into the Southport murders is welcome.
“But contrast his press conference in No10 this morning with the government’s silence in the days following the horrific attacks. There remain serious questions about the transparency of government information at the time of the unrest that followed these horrific killings.”
