Tearful mothers of three young girls murdered in the Southport knife attack demanded “real change and accountability” at Liverpool Town Hall today, telling a public inquiry their daughters’ deaths were “preventable” due to multiple agency failures that allowed violence-obsessed teenager Axel Rudakubana to carry out his deadly rampage.
Lauren King, 43, sobbed as she described six-year-old daughter Bebe’s murder alongside Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July 2024, insisting the inquiry must not become “another box-ticking exercise.”
The emotional testimony comes as revelations emerge that Rudakubana, now 18, had been referred three times to the Government’s Prevent counter-extremism programme between December 2019 and April 2021, with each case closed prematurely because officials focused too heavily on his lack of clear ideology rather than his escalating violent behaviour.
‘This Was Preventable,’ Mother Tells Inquiry
Mrs King, holding hands with husband Ben, 43, struggled to speak through tears as she delivered her powerful statement to inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford at Liverpool Town Hall. “No statement, no report, no apology will ever bring Bebe back,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion. “But this inquiry cannot become another box-ticking exercise.”
Raising her voice, the training executive for a travel firm demanded: “The truth must be faced. Accountability must be taken. And real change must be made. Because this was preventable. It should never have happened.”
She described Bebe as “joyful, hilarious and magical,” adding: “She was not just a victim. She was not just a name in a report. She was a six-year-old little girl with a spark that lit up every room she entered.
The grieving mother revealed she is now under “hospital care” because the physical pain following Bebe’s murder has been debilitating. “Everything just hurts,” she said. “I haven’t cooked a meal in 14 months because I simply can’t find the strength or executive function to complete even simple tasks.”
Multiple Prevent Referrals Failed to Stop Killer
The inquiry heard damning evidence of how Rudakubana slipped through the system despite raising red flags as early as 2019. The teenager, who was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 52 years in January, had been referred to Prevent three times between ages 13 and 14.
The first referral came in December 2019 after he researched school shootings during an Information Technology class. Two further referrals in 2021 followed incidents where he uploaded images of Colonel Gaddafi to Instagram and was found researching the London Bridge terror attack.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis told MPs earlier this year that counter-terrorism officers were “wrong” to close Rudakubana’s case prematurely when there was “sufficient concern” to keep it open. “Too much focus was placed on the absence of a distinct ideology, to the detriment of considering the perpetrator’s susceptibility, grievances and complex needs,” he said.
A review found there had been sufficient information to refer Rudakubana to Channel, Prevent’s voluntary deradicalisation programme, but this never happened. Between 2019 and 2022, police attended his home five times due to concerns about escalating behaviour, including an incident where he brought a knife to school and attacked classmates with a hockey stick.
‘I Need to Understand How This Happened’
Elsie Dot Stancombe’s mother, Jenni, 36, also broke down as she told the inquiry she had “lost everything” and demanded answers. The retail manager, speaking alongside her postman husband David, 37, said they were “good parents” who had simply tried to do something “nice” for their daughter by enrolling her in the holiday club.
“Elsie only went to dance, make bracelets, and I never got to bring her home,” Mrs Stancombe said through tears. “I walk past an empty bed every night, I stare into her room praying this nightmare will end, but it never does, we live it every day.”
She described the horror of driving to the dance studio in panic, frantically searching for Elsie and screaming her name, only to be told her daughter hadn’t made it out and had died inside. The life we had worked so hard to build for our girls destroyed in that moment,” she said.
Mrs Stancombe revealed the couple were “devastated” when graphic details of Elsie’s injuries were made public during Rudakubana’s sentencing hearing, claiming they had been “failed” by the justice system. The Crown Prosecution Service knew how important it was to us that those details were not to be made public. But they were,” she said.
Third Mother Describes Lost ‘Perfect Life’
Alexandra Aguiar, 34, mother of nine-year-old Alice, said in a statement read by the family’s solicitor that their “precious” only child and “perfect life” had been “torn” from them. She and husband Sergio, 38, now sleep every night with Alice’s teddy bear, which plays her voice message when they squeeze its leg.
“It is the closest that we will ever get to our daughter,” Mrs Aguiar said. She described Alice as “the most lovable, caring, beautiful, funny little girl you could have ever wished to meet,” adding that she had dreamt of becoming a vet and dance teacher.
We as her parents are now broken from our loss and we will suffer with trauma from this for the rest of our lives,” she said, urging the inquiry to keep the image of Alice “dancing and singing away, swaying her beautiful black hair around” in mind during proceedings.
Prevent Boss Departs Following Review
The damning testimony comes after Michael Stewart, head of the Government’s Prevent programme since September 2020, stepped down following a review that revealed multiple failures in handling Rudakubana’s case. The investigation found that whilst there was sufficient risk to keep Rudakubana’s cases active, they were closed prematurely with too much focus placed on his lack of distinct ideology.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced reforms to Prevent, including clarifying thresholds so frontline workers understand that those fascinated with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks should be referred, even without clear ideological motivation.
Independent Prevent Commissioner David Anderson KC recommended the programme should remain open to those with no fixed ideology, noting that 36 per cent of referrals in 2023-24 involved “vulnerability present but no ideology or counter-terrorism risk.”
Inquiry to Examine Agency Failures
The public inquiry, which began formally on 7 April 2025, is investigating why multiple agencies including police, courts, NHS and social services failed to identify the risk Rudakubana posed. Christopher Walker, solicitor representing the three families, said opportunities to intervene were lost because referrals to other agencies who could have helped were not followed up.
“Real change needs to come in order to prevent other families going through what my clients face,” Mr Walker said. “Lord Anderson is right that lessons must be learned and we call upon the Government and authorities to ensure they do more than simply paying lip service.”
The inquiry has already heard harrowing testimony from families of surviving children, dance teachers Leanne Lucas and Heidi Liddle, and businessman Jonathan Hayes, who was injured confronting Rudakubana during the 12-minute attack that inflicted hundreds of injuries on the young victims.
Mrs King’s final words to the inquiry carried the weight of every parent’s worst nightmare: “No other child, no other family, no other community should ever endure what we now live with every single day.”
The inquiry continues, with findings from the first phase expected later this year.
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