The chairman of the public inquiry into last summer’s Southport murders has announced the killer will not be named during proceedings, referring to him only as “the perpetrator” or “AR”.
Sir Adrian Fulford, former vice-president of the Court of Appeal, made the declaration as he opened the inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall on Tuesday. The decision comes six months after Axel Rudakubana was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 52 years for murdering three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
“For the benefit of the victims and their families, for whom this is an issue of significant and wholly understandable sensitivity, his name should not be used again during this inquiry,” Sir Adrian stated. The 18-year-old will be referred to simply as “the perpetrator” or “AR” throughout the proceedings.
Unprecedented Crime
Sir Adrian described the July 29 attack as “one of the most egregious crimes in our country’s history.” He acknowledged the limitations of language in capturing the horror of what occurred.
“However hard we try, ordinary language simply fails to reflect the enormity of what he did on July 29 last year,” the retired senior judge said. “None of the most powerful adjectives even begin to suffice: there are no words that adequately describe what occurred and I am not going to try (and then fail) to find them.”
The inquiry will examine whether the attack could have been prevented and assess measures for tackling teenagers drawn to extreme violence without ideological motivation. It comes just months after Rudakubana received one of the longest sentences ever imposed on someone under 18 in Britain.
Pattern of Missed Opportunities
AR murdered Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in the stabbing spree at the Hart Space in Southport. He also attempted to murder eight other children, class instructor Leanne Lucas and local businessman John Hayes.
Court proceedings revealed the killer had been flagged to anti-terror programme Prevent three times between 2019 and 2021. A government review found his cases should have been kept open rather than closed prematurely.
“Too much focus was placed on the absence of a distinct ideology,” Security Minister Dan Jarvis told Parliament in February. The review concluded there was sufficient evidence to consider Rudakubana a terror threat and refer him to Channel, Prevent’s intervention programme.
Early Warning Signs
AR was first referred to Prevent in December 2019 at age 13 after being caught with a knife at school and searching online for school massacres. Teachers reported he had asked disturbing questions during an art lesson about drawing severed heads and made graphic comments about violence.
A second referral came in February 2021 when a fellow pupil showed teachers social media posts and described him as being “radicalised.” A third referral followed in April 2021 after suspicious internet searches during lessons, including queries about bombings and terrorist organisations.
Despite these red flags, all three referrals were closed without escalation. Counter-terrorism officers deemed he did not meet the threshold for intervention, focusing on his lack of clear ideology rather than his demonstrated fascination with violence.
Systematic Failures
The inquiry will examine AR’s extensive contact with multiple agencies before the attack. Lancashire Child Safeguarding Partnership confirmed he had interactions with police, children’s social care, youth justice services, mental health services and education authorities from 2019 onwards.
Merseyside Police received at least five calls from the perpetrator’s home address between October 2019 and May 2022 relating to concerns about his behaviour. He had also been convicted of assault and weapon possession following a 2019 incident where he attacked another pupil with a hockey stick.
His crimes impose the heaviest of burdens on our society to investigate speedily but comprehensively how it was possible for AR to have caused such devastation,” Sir Adrian said. The inquiry will analyse decisions taken by individuals and organisations given his “deteriorating and deeply troubling behaviour.”
Two-Phase Investigation
The inquiry will proceed in two phases. The first will thoroughly investigate circumstances surrounding the attack and events leading up to it, including the perpetrator’s interactions with public bodies and any missed opportunities for intervention.
A second phase next year will examine the broader phenomenon of young people drawn to extreme violence and recommend measures to reverse what Sir Adrian called a “troubling trend.” This reflects growing concerns about individuals who commit acts of extreme violence without traditional terrorist ideologies.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the inquiry in January, stating it would help understand what went wrong and prevent similar tragedies. The inquiry has legal powers to compel evidence and testimony from 15 organisations, including MI5, Counter-Terrorism Policing, NHS England and Merseyside Police.
Families Demand Change
Solicitors representing the bereaved families emphasised the need for meaningful reform following the tragedy. Rachael Wong, director at law firm Bond Turner, stated: “We know that nothing the inquiry reveals or subsequently recommends will change the unimaginable loss felt by the families of Elsie, Alice and Bebe.”
“We all now have a responsibility to ensure that something like this never happens again. It is only through intense public scrutiny that real change can be effected,” she added.
The inquiry will hear evidence from four families whose children were injured in the attack when it resumes on Wednesday. Further hearings are scheduled for September at Liverpool Town Hall, where more victims, survivors and families will provide testimony.
Sir Adrian committed to proceeding “at pace and with rigour” while balancing the needs of those living with continued trauma. His focus throughout will be on thorough forensic investigation of all circumstances to identify comprehensive, sensible and achievable recommendations.
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Image Credit:
Adrian Fulford (cropped) – Image by UK Government, licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL), via Wikimedia Commons.
