Southport inquiry will examine failures to stop killer, chair says

The inquiry into the Southport attack will examine the "wholesale failure" of multiple institutions to prevent "one of the most egregious crimes in our country's history", its chair said in his opening remarks yesterday.

- Josh Halliday

Sir Adrian Fulford said the murder of three girls appeared "far from being an unforeseeable catastrophic event" given Axel Rudakubana's well-known obsession with extreme violence.

The inquiry at Liverpool town hall will examine missed opportunities to prevent the killing of Bebe King, six; Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine; and the attempted murder of 10 others at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport on 29 July last year.

Fulford, a retired senior judge, said the hearings would not turn into an "exercise of papering over the cracks" but would be a "real engine for change" in exposing failures. He said it would recommend "all of the changes that urgently need to be made".

He said he would consider sweeping changes to the justice system, including whether courts should be given powers to impose restrictions on individuals known to pose a risk but when there was insufficient evidence to justify an arrest.