Keir Starmer says 'I obeyed the law of the land' as he explains why 'crucial' Southport details weren't released

Keir Starmer has spoken out on why key details about Southport killer Axel Rudakubana were not revealed in the summer.

The Prime Minister denied claims of a 'cover-up' after it was revealed that Rudakubana was referred to the government's counter-terrorism programme Prevent on three occasions before the attack. On each occasion, a judgement was made that he did not meet the threshold for intervention.

In a Downing Street press conference this morning, Starmer said the decisions were 'clearly wrong' and 'failed the families' of the three young girls murdered in last summer's horrific attack.

However, he said key information about the killer - including his referrals to Prevent - were not released until his guilty plea yesterday in order to ensure his trial did not collapse.

Answering a question from Sky News' Beth Rigby, who asked if information had been withheld to quell the riots, he reiterated that 'responsibility for the disorder and violence lies with those who perpetrated it'.

The Prime Minister added he knew details about the case as they were being found out, but says 'you know, and I know, it wouldn't have been right' to release them publicly. He says that if he revealed that information it risked the trial collapsing, and 'I'm never going to do that'.

"I had to observe the law of the land," he said.

“It was not my personal decision to withhold this information, any more than it was a journalist’s personal decision not to print or write about it. That is the law of the land and it is in place for the reasons I’ve set out to protect the integrity of the system to ensure that the victims and their families get the justice they deserve.”

'If I revealed crucial details he would have walked away a free man'

Laws are in place in the UK prevent potentially prejudicial details about a case being publicly reported before a defendant stands trial. This is to ensure a jury is not prejudiced and can give the defendant a fair trial based on the evidence heard there.

And Sir Keir had previously stated in the press conference: “Throughout this case, up to this point, we have only been focussed on justice. If this trial had collapsed because I or anyone else had revealed crucial details while police were investigating, while the case was being built, while we were awaiting a verdict, then the vile individual who committed these crimes would have walked away a free man.

“The prospect of justice destroyed for the victims and their families. I would never do that and nobody would ever forgive me if I had. That is why the law of this country forbade me or anyone else from disclosing details sooner.

“None the less, it is now time for those questions and the first of those is whether this was a terrorist attack. The blunt truth here is that this case is a sign Britain now faces a new threat. Terrorism has changed. In the past the predominant threat was highly organised groups with clear political intent, groups like Al Qaeda.

“That threat of course remains, but now alongside that we also see acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety, sometimes inspired by traditional terrorist groups but fixated on that extreme violence, seemingly for its own sake.”

He added: “If the law needs to change to recognise this new and dangerous threat, then we will change it and quickly, and we will also review our entire counter-extremist system to make sure we have what we need to defeat it.” He said that while some people may put the tragedy down to immigration or funding cuts, “neither tells us anything like the full story or explains this case properly”.

'Line in the sand'

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced an inquiry into the case on Monday evening, saying the country needed “independent answers” on Prevent and other agencies’ contact with the “extremely violent” Rudakubana and “how he came to be so dangerous”.

In today's press conference, Starmer said the state's failure 'leaps off the page' and he would ensure 'no stone would be left unturned' during the incoming inquiry.

“Southport must be a line in the sand, but nothing will be off the table in this inquiry, nothing, and most importantly, it will lead to change," the Prime Minister said.

“I know people will be watching right now, and they’ll be saying, we’ve heard all this before, the promises, the sorrow, the inquiry that comes and goes, and inability to change that frankly, has become the oxygen for wider conspiracy.

“And we’ve seen that throughout this case – a suggestion that there has been a cover up.

“I want to put on record that yesterday’s guilty verdict only happened because hundreds, if not thousands, of dedicated public servants worked towards it, many of whom endured absolutely harrowing circumstances, particularly in the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

“That is their job. They are brilliant at it.”