Southport killer 'carried knife more than 10 times' - and bought murder weapon on Amazon

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it was a 'total disgrace' that Axel Rudakubana had bought the murder weapon online - despite being only 17 and having a previous violent conviction

Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana admitted to carrying a knife more than 10 times - and was able to buy a blade on Amazon, the Home Secretary has said.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it was a "total disgrace" that Rudakubana had been able to get the kitchen knife he used in his rampage online - despite being only 17 at the time and having a previous conviction for attacking a child with a hockey stick in 2019. In a statement to MPs, Ms Cooper said state authorities failed to identify "the terrible danger" he posed - and said it was "unbearable to think that something more could and should have been done."

Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside, in July. He also admitted 10 attempted murders, the production of ricin, and possession of a terrorist manual.

Earlier, Keir Starmer vowed to hold a full inquiry into how the state failed to prevent Rudakubana from going on a murderous rampage. He said Britain must reckon with a new terror threat of "extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms".

Ms Cooper laid bare the extent of the state's failings to stop Rudakubana in a statement this afternoon. He was referred three times to Prevent, the Government's counter terrorism programme, between December 2019 and April 2021 when he only 13 and 14-years-old.

This followed evidence he was "expressing interest in school shootings, in the London Bridge attack, the IRA, MI5 and the Middle East", she said. But his case was not referred upwards.

Between October 2019 and May 2022 Lancashire Police responded to five calls from his home address about his behaviour. He was referred repeatedly to the multi-agency safeguarding hub, had contact with children's social care and mental health services, MPs heard.

He was convicted of a violent assault of a child at school and referred to youth offending team. He was also excluded from school.

Ms Cooper said: "Between them they completely failed to identify the terrible danger that he posed. How did he fall through so many gaps? It is just unbearable to think that something more could and should have been done."

The Home Secretary said there were "grave questions" to answer, adding: "There were so many signs of how dangerous he had become but the action taken against him was far too weak."

The Government will carry out an inquiry into the Southport attacks, which will begin on a non-statutory footing but will be granted whatever powers it needs. The probe will also look at the wider issue of "rising youth violence and extremism", Ms Cooper told MPs.

She said: "I have been deeply disturbed at the number of cases involving teenagers drawn into extremism, serious violence and terrorism including Islamist extremism, far right extremism, mixed and confused ideology and obsession with violence and gore.

"There has been a threefold increase in under-18s investigated for involvement in terrorism in just three years. 162 people were referred to Prevent last year for concerns relating to school massacres. The Met commissioner has warned about young men who are fixated on violence, grazing across extremist and terrorist content online."

Tech firms have been told by the Government to take down the context that Rudakubana accessed - and urged to do more to stop the spread of vile content. "Companies should not be profiting from hosting content that puts children's lives at risk," she said.

Ms Cooper also said the Government was looking at contempt of court rules as social media is putting existing laws "under strain". The legislation aims to protect the judicial process - which means news organisations don't publish information that risks prejudicing a trial.

The Government has faced criticism for failing to put out more information about Rudakubana but the PM and the Home Secretary both said this could have caused the trial to collapse - and denied the families justice.

Southport MP Patrick Hurley said speculation by "public figures who should know better" could have caused a jury trial to collapse. He added: "The public inquiry should also be allowed to undertake its work and make its recommendations free of the ridiculous nonsense and lies that we've seen from public figures who should know better circulating purely for their own interests".

Rudakubana, of Banks, Lancashire, will be sentenced on Thursday. He is not expected to receive a whole life order because he was 17 at the time of the murders.

The measures can normally only be imposed on criminals aged 21 or over, and are usually only considered for those aged 18 to 20 in exceptional circumstances.