The 'wicked problem' that makes me fear we'll see more horrors like Southport

TOP COP'S ALARM OVER YOUNG PEOPLE'S ACCESS TO VIOLENCE

- By PATRICK EDRICH

A SENIOR police officer says he fears the UK will see another Southport stabbing incident because of the access children have to violence and weapons online.

Lancashire Constabulary Assistant Chief Constable Mark Winstanley told the ongoing Southport Inquiry that policing and other agencies including the social services are dealing with a “really wicked problem” which society has to address.

Axel Rudakubana was 17 when he specifically targeted young girls and women at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party, murdering Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and injuring 10 other people. In the years before the attack the teenager absorbed himself in online violence, and bought knives and machetes through retailers including Amazon.

Giving evidence to the inquiry sitting at Liverpool Town Hall yesterday, ACC Winstanley said: “It is far too easy for our young people, particularly those who are suffering with their mental health, to be influenced and to see this material and to then get access to weapons.”

He told the proceedings he hopes an event like the dance party attack will never happen again but added “I fear that it will”

The senior officer had earlier said he was “extremely sorry” his force had missed a “very serious opportunity” to uncover the killer's depravity over two years before the attack.