State failing to learn lessons of Southport attack, say victims’ lawyers

• 01Axel Rudakubana, who carried out the July 2024 Southport attack, was referred three times to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme, but concerns were dismissed partly because he did not express a clear ideology.
• 02Counter-terrorism officials promised that individuals without clear ideological motivation but with obsession with extreme violence would now pass through Prevent.
• 03A Guardian analysis found that barely one in 10 of 3,400 cases in children and teenagers highlighting concerns about extreme violence went on to receive anti-radicalisation support in the year to March 2025.
• 04Nearly 300 Prevent referrals were made of primary school-age children with intense interest in brutality but no clear ideology, and 3,000 referrals of teenagers over the same concerns in the year to March 2025.
• 05Only 11% of the 3,300 referrals for unclear or no ideology but obsession with extreme violence were deemed suitable for Channel counter-radicalisation work, compared to 34% for right-wing extremism referrals and 26% for Islamist extremism referrals.
• 06A 17-year-old convicted of planning a copycat Rudakubana attack had been referred to Prevent twice, including in May, but had no clear ideology and avoided jail.
• 07Chris Walker, solicitor for families of the three murdered girls, stated the system was 'not fit for purpose and must undergo fundamental changes to reduce serious risks to society.'

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Lawyers representing victims of the July 2024 Southport attack said the state is failing to protect society from violence-obsessed teenagers without clear ideological motivations, ahead of an official inquiry expected to criticize agency failings. A Guardian analysis found that only 11% of 3,400 referrals to counter-terrorism programs for children and teens with extreme violence obsession but unclear ideology received anti-radicalisation support in the year to March 2025, compared to higher rates for ideologically-motivated cases. The solicitors said the government promised reforms after the attack but the changes have not been implemented on the frontline.