Keir Starmer has said there are questions to answer on how the young victims of the Southport stabbings were “failed” by the state.
The Prime Minister said the conviction of the “vile and sick Southport killer” Axel Rudakubana was welcome but it was also a “moment of trauma for the nation”. Rudakubana pleaded guilty today to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, in a frenzied attack on a Taylor Swift-themed class on July 29.
Rudakubana, 18, of Banks, Lancashire, was due to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court charged with 16 offences, including three counts of murder. He also admitted the attempted murders of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
In a statement, the Prime Minister said: “Our thoughts are with the families of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, and the families of everyone affected, who will be saved the ordeal of a protracted trial. The news that the vile and sick Southport killer will be convicted is welcome.
“It is also a moment of trauma for the nation, and there are grave questions to answer as to how the state failed in its ultimate duty to protect these young girls. Britain will rightly demand answers, and we will leave no stone unturned in that pursuit.
“At the centre of this horrific event, there is still a family and community grief that is raw, a pain that not even justice can ever truly heal. Although no words today can ever truly convey the depths of that pain, I want the families to know that our thoughts are with them and everyone in Southport affected by this barbaric crime. The whole nation grieves with them.”
The horrifying attacks triggered a wave of riots across the country, after online misinformation spread claiming the suspect was a 17-year-old asylum seeker who had arrived by boat in Britain.
Prosecutors described Rudakabana as a “young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence”, saying the attack left an “enduring mark on our community and the nation for its savagery and senselessness”.
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It emerged that he had been referred to the government anti-extremism scheme Prevent three times before the murders, amid concerns over his fixation with violence.
He is expected to be sentenced on Thursday. Rudakubana is not expected to receive a whole life order because he was 17 at the time of the murders. Whole life orders can normally only be imposed on criminals aged 21 or over, and are usually only considered for those aged 18 to 20 in exceptional circumstances.
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