What we know about the Southport public inquiry so far

A public inquiry into Southport child-killer Axel Rudakubana has been announced by the Home Secretary.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine; Bebe King, six; and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; died following the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the seaside town on July 29.

Here is what we know about the inquiry so far, and the scope it will have:

Public inquiries are major investigations that have special powers to summon witnesses to give evidence on oath and to compel the production of documents.

A statutory public inquiry is usually set up and funded by the government but is conducted as an independent body to investigate matters of public concern.

Inquiries have addressed topics as wide-ranging as the UK’s response to Covid, the Grenfell Tower fire, and the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.

Inquiries can last for years, with millions of pounds often spent on retaining legal counsel, office space and a secretariat.

Statutory public inquiries operate in line with the provisions of the Inquiries Act 2005 and the Inquiry Rules 2006.

Each public inquiry begins when its terms of reference are set out.

These are specific instructions outlining the questions the inquiry should address, the types of information and feedback that the Government wants, and “often a sense of when the inquiry should issue its report”, according to the Institute for Government.

An inquiry will usually make recommendations to try to prevent what has gone wrong from happening again.

It is for the government to decide whether to accept an inquiry’s recommendations and how to take them forward.

The Home Secretary announced on Monday that there will be a public inquiry into how Rudakubana “came to be so dangerous” and why government anti-extremism scheme Prevent “failed to identify the terrible risk” he posed to others.

Yvette Cooper said the case was against a backdrop over a series of years “in which growing numbers of teenagers have been referred to Prevent, investigated by counter-terror police, or referred to other agencies amid concerns around serious violence and extremism”.

The Home Secretary said “we need to face up to why this has been happening and what needs to change”.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said there were “grave questions” to answer about how the state failed the Southport murder victims.

The Home Secretary confirmed the 18-year-old had “contact with a range of different state agencies throughout his teenage years”.

Rudakubana had been referred to Prevent three times before the murders due to concerns about his obsession with violence.

He was first referred to Prevent when he was just 13 years old, after he reportedly viewed material relating to US school shootings.

In her statement, Ms Cooper said: “He was referred three times to the Prevent programme between December 2019 and April 2021 aged 13 and 14.

“He also had contact with the police, the courts, the Youth Justice system, social services and mental health services.

“Yet between them, those agencies failed to identify the terrible risk and danger to others that he posed.”

Although initiated and funded by government, public inquiries are run independently.

Inquiries always have a chairman, often a judge, appointed by the minister.

It is not yet known who will chair the Southport inquiry.

The Home Secretary said the Home Office had commissioned an urgent Prevent Learning Review during the summer into the three referrals that took place and why they were closed.

Announcing the public inquiry, the Home Secretary said: “We will publish further details this week, alongside new reforms to the Prevent programme.”

Merseyside Police said the Lancashire Child Safeguarding Partnership had commissioned an independent Child Safeguarding Practice Review to look at the roles of all the agencies involved with Rudakubana, their interaction with him and his family.