We will name police and social workers unless action taken, Southport families lawyer says
TL;DR
The lawyer for the families of three murdered girls in Southport will name police and social workers unless disciplinary actions are taken. The inquiry revealed severe failings by local authorities in preventing the attack by 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana.
Key points
- Three girls were murdered in Southport in June 2024
- The attack was committed by 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana
- Public inquiry revealed catastrophic local authority failings
- Lawyer Chris Walker will name police and social workers if no action is taken
- Concerns raised about five state agencies' behaviors
Those who failed to take action to try to prevent the Southport attacks will be named unless suitable disciplinary measures are taken, the legal representative for the three murdered girls' families has said.
Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were killed by 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in June 2024.
On Monday, the public inquiry identified "catastrophic" parental and local authority failings, with a "merry-go-round" of referrals, assessments and "hand-offs" between agencies failing to stop the "predictable and preventable" attack.
Chris Walker said he was prepared to identify key individuals from five agencies.
Walker told BBC Breakfast: "There are five particular state entities which are causing us most concern and we, frankly, find their behaviour unacceptable.
"Prevent, Lancashire Police, Lancashire Social Services, CAMHS, and FCAMHS."
CAMHS is the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service while FCAMHs is the Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.
Prevent is a Home Office initiative aimed at stopping individuals from becoming extremists and eventually carrying out attacks.
"I know the names of those individuals," said Walker of the five public bodies.
"If necessary, if we're not satisfied, I will be naming them publicly and I will be bringing out in the public domain once more their individual failings which is totally unacceptable.
"The families, quite frankly, are aghast."
The public inquiry found that "no agency or multi-agency structure accepted responsibility" for assessing and managing the "grave risk" posed by the attacker.
His autism was used as an "excuse" for his past conduct and meant no agency understood the true danger he posed.
Inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford called for the end of what he described as a "culture" of agencies passing responsibility between each other or downgrading their own involvement in such cases.
"Failings were from [the attacker's] parental failures and also the individual state failures," Walker said.
"All of those agencies, the performance of those agencies, failed to a totally unacceptable level.
"The murders were predictable and preventable.
"And we find the systemic failures, the failures of the individuals at those particular five agencies I mentioned, to be wholly unacceptable."
Walker said he had been in contact with them and would be prepared to name the responsible individuals from each should suitable disciplinary action not be taken.
"Several months ago, I wrote to all five of those saying that we find their performance wholly unacceptable, demanding disciplinary proceedings against the individuals.
"Now that that inquiry report is concluded, I will be following that up with them to make sure that the disciplinary proceedings have concluded to our satisfaction."
Specifically in relation to Prevent, Walker said: "Prevent have a real issue with understanding the word 'ideology'.
"They've failed to implement the ideological consequences or the ideological understanding in terms of their various gateways.
"The cause of somebody's intention to cause mass murder is immaterial, it is the desire to cause mass murder that has to be prevented."
Following the publication of the 760-page Phase One report, Phase Two of the Southport Inquiry will begin immediately and report back in Spring 2027.
It will focus on the "adequacy of arrangements for identifying and managing the risk posed by individuals who are fixated with extreme violence".
Looking ahead to this, Walker said: "It's pointless having a glossy book sat at the end of somebody's desk gathering dust with recommendations.
"We can't have a situation where we lurch from disaster to disaster, from inquiry to inquiry - there has to be the change."
Walker added: "The families are living in a horror movie - and yesterday brought it all back.
"Every time there's a new report, every time there's a new incident, they are reliving the horror movie once again - and that's exactly where they are now."
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Q&A
What happened to the three girls in Southport?
Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, and Alice da Silva Aguiar were murdered by Axel Rudakubana during a dance class in June 2024.
What did the public inquiry reveal about local authorities?
The inquiry identified significant failings by local authorities, describing a 'merry-go-round' of ineffective referrals and assessments that failed to prevent the attack.
Who is Chris Walker and what is his role in this case?
Chris Walker is the legal representative for the families of the murdered girls, and he plans to name individuals from five state agencies unless disciplinary measures are taken.
What actions are being demanded by the families' lawyer?
The families' lawyer demands suitable disciplinary measures against those responsible for the failures that led to the attack, threatening to name the involved police and social workers otherwise.
