After the far-right unrest in wake of Southport attack, police 'did the right thing' releasing details of parade suspect, say experts

POLICE chiefs did the “right thing” by releasing key details from their investigation into the Liverpool parade crash, experts declared yesterday.

- Michael Knowles Home Affairs Editor

Merseyside Police, heavily criticised in the wake of the Southport atrocity last summer, revealed the driver was a white British man within two hours of the incident.

And, less than 24 hours later, Detective Chief Superintendent Karen Jaundrill said the 53-year-old was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving offences and driving while under the influence of drugs.

On both occasions, senior police officers reiterated that the horror crash was not being treated as a terrorist attack.

The incident saw a car ram into dozens of people during a Liverpool FC trophy parade on Monday.

The police moves followed a scathing report which claimed “inconsistent” advice from the Crown Prosecution Service prevented the force from revealing details about Southport killer Axel Rudakubana, creating an information vacuum which helped fuel last summer’s riots.

Jonathan Hall KC, the Government's terrorism tsar, had said police should have released details earlier.

False rumours soon spread on social media claiming Rudakubana was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK on a small boat.

This time, Merseyside Police chiefs swiftly confirmed key details from their early probes into the Liverpool parade horror to prevent any rumours or actions from escalating.

Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims also spoke at a press conference and shared more information about the incident.

'The whole idea was to put to bed all the misinformation out there'

Liverpool City Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said it was “absolutely the right thing to do”.

He said: “If you looked on social media, already within minutes of the incident being posted, nefarious groups were trying to stir up speculation around who was responsible for it.

“The whole idea was to put to bed the misinformation and disinformation that was out there, to calm people.”