Southport killer Axel Rudakubana should have been seen as a terror threat, Home Office report shows - Axel Rudakubana should have been referred to the next stage of the Prevent scheme, says Home Secre

A damning report has lifted the lid on a catalogue of missed opportunities to stop Southport killer Axel Rudakubana, who was obsessed by the Manchester Arena bombing and school shootings

There was “sufficient risk” posed by Southport killer Axel Rudakubana to keep his cases within the Prevent programme active and these were “closed prematurely”, Home Office minister Dan Jarvis has said.

More questions arise about child killer's mental health treatment in years before murderous attack at Taylor Swift-themed dance party

Axel Rudakubana admitted to killing three girls at a dance class in Southport on the first day of his trial. The 18-year-old was to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, charged with 16 offences, including three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.

The report highlighted that in his second referral to Prevent, Axel Rudakubana's name was spelt differently from the first. It noted a Prevent supervisor was unable to find the previous referral and "this may have caused the case to be closed quickly on minimal information".

Rudakubana was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years – one of the highest minimum terms on record – for murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29 last year.

A British court sentenced teen Axel Rudakubana to a record 52 years in prison, minus time served, for murdering three young girls in a frenzied stabbing attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport in July.

Axel Rudakubana had been referred to the Prevent anti-terror scheme three times between 2019 and 2021 The Prevent counter-terrorism scheme "prematurely" closed its case on Axel Rudakubana three years before he went on to murder three children in Southport,