The secret of the identity of Southport killer Axel Rudakubana could have been 'detrimental' for his murder process, has warned the terror watchdog of Sir Keir Starmer.
Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of the terrorist legislation, criticized the authorities for non-spelling of 'basic and sober facts about the teenager after he had killed three young girls in a dance class last year.
Mr Hall said De Telegraaf that the absence of information about Rudakubana led to 'infectious disinformation' and 'dangerous fictions' were distributed online.
He added that this “could have been much more disadvantageous for the prosecution of Rudakubana than some of the true facts that were suppressed in the name of contempt of the court.”
Instead, it would have been 'much better' for authorities to provide 'accurate' information about the teenager instead of retaining a 'ineffective near-silence'.
After the process of Rudakubana in January – when he admitted that he revealed Alice da Silva Aguiaar, Nine, Bebe King, Six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, Zeven – Sir Keir, revealed that he knew details of the case when they came up after the attack.
But he claimed that making public a future criminal trial would have collapsed, and added: “The only losers would, if the details were announced, would be the victims and the families.”
Mr Hall was given the task by the prime minister to investigate whether the definition of terrorism should be increased with people such as Rudakubana.
The confidentiality about the identity of Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana (depicted) could have been 'detrimental' for his murder process, Sir Keir Starmer's terror watchdog has warned
Jonathan Hall KC (photo), the independent reviewer of terrorist legislation, criticized the authorities for not describing 'basic and sober facts about the teenager
Sir Keir (photo) revealed earlier this year that he had known the details of the case when they came up after the attack
In January Sir Keir argued that the Southport case has shown that there is now a different kind of terrorism.
He has proposed to extend the definition to tackle 'extreme violence by loners, outsiders, young men in their bedrooms'.
Rudakubana is said to have been fascinated by violence 'because of itself' instead of having a clear ideology.
That lack of an ideology meant that he did not meet the criteria for the program for preventing counter-extremism, even though he is referred to it three times in the midst of concern about his fixation with violence.
But Mr Hall suggested that the security services missed the means to tackle an extensive definition that could be including football hooligans and ordinary criminal gangs and even murderers such as Lucy Letby.
Speaking with the Times earlier this year, Mr. Hall insulted that he would “keep an open mind,” but suggested that such a movement “would expand the definition too much.”
He argued that the point of a new definition would be to unleash pre-crime violations that the police enable “, adding this would only be possible with sufficient resources.
He said: “Police and MI5 focus on the existing terror threat and the enormous increase in the activity of the state threat that now costs a significant part of their time. They would be overwhelmed. '
Bebe King, six, (photo) was one of the three girls who were murdered last July in the Southport attacks
Elsie Dot Stancombe, Zeven, (photo) was one of the three little girls killed by Axel Rudakubana
Alice da Silva Aguiaar, nine, (depicted) was one of the three girls who were killed in the horrible attack last summer
Rudakubana, Van Banks, Lancashire, pleaded in January to 16 violations, including three counts of murder.
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, six-year-old Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe, Zeven, died after the attack on a dance class with Taylor Swift theme in the Hart-Room in a small business park in the coastal town shortly before afternoon on July 29, 2024.
Rudakubana, now 18 but 17 years old at the time of the attack, admitted that the girl murders and the attempted murder of eight other children, who cannot be called for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
He also argued guilty of possession of a knife on the day of the attack, the production of a biological toxin – ricin – on or before July 29, and possession of information that is likely to be useful for a person who commits himself or prepares for an act of terrorism.
Rudakubana, born in Cardiff to parents who came from Rwanda to the United Kingdom in 2002, moved in 2013 to the Merseyside Seaside Resort of Southport, where his father Alphonse worked as a taxi driver.
He was referred three times to the Prevent program, but was not motivated on every occasion by terrorist ideology.
