Thursday, January 30, 2025
Home News The five killers Prevent failed to stop: From ISIS fanatic who attacked MP David Amess to Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana as victims’ families say anti-terror scheme ‘is not fit for purpose’

The five killers Prevent failed to stop: From ISIS fanatic who attacked MP David Amess to Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana as victims’ families say anti-terror scheme ‘is not fit for purpose’

by Abella
0 comments

The government’s flagship Prevent anti-extremism programme has failed to stop five killers in recent years – including Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana. 

The 18-year-old, who was jailed to life yesterday with a minimum prison term of 52 years, was referred to the Prevent three times but deemed not to be motivated by a terrorist ideology on each occasion.  

His referrals were for researching US school shootings during an IT class, uploading images of Colonel Gaddafi on Instagram and researching the London Bridge terror attack.

Rudakubana’s case has prompted a fresh wave of criticism from victims’ families that Prevent ‘isn’t fit for purpose’ – following a series of other killings by perpetrators who had previously been referred to the scheme. 

They include Plymouth gunman Jake Davison, who murdered five people during a 12-minute rampage through the city in August 2021.

The 22-year-old, who was obsessed with guns and online ‘intel’ culture, was referred to his Prevent scheme by his mother Maxine in November 2016. 

He went on to fatally shoot her before going on to kill Sophie Martyn, three, her father, Lee, 43, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66.

ISIS fanatic Ali Harbi Ali, who fatally stabbed Tory MP Sir David Amess outside a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in 2021, was referred to Prevent in 2014 before his case was closed a year later due to the belief he did not pose a serious threat. 

The five killers Prevent failed to stop: From ISIS fanatic who attacked MP David Amess to Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana as victims’ families say anti-terror scheme ‘is not fit for purpose’

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was referred to the Prevent scheme three times

Others referred to the programme include Plymouth gunman Jake Davison , who murdered five people during a 12-minute rampage through the city in August 2021

Others referred to the programme include Plymouth gunman Jake Davison , who murdered five people during a 12-minute rampage through the city in August 2021

Afterwards, Sir David’s daughter, Katie, condemned the fact that her father’s killer was known to the authorities before his case was closed due to an ‘admin error’ and insisted Prevent ‘isn’t fit for purpose’.

‘This is not an isolated case of Prevent failing, there have been numerous examples of people being let out of the programme and going on to commit atrocities,’ she told GB News. 

Libyan terrorist Khairi Saadallah, 27, who murdered friends James Furlong, 36, Dr David Wails, 49, and Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, 39, in a Reading Park, had earlier been referred to Prevent over fears he could carry out a ‘London Bridge-style attack’. 

He was found by officials to lack a ‘fixed ideology’, according to reports. 

Another terrorist referred to Prevent was Usman Khan, 28, who fatally knifed Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, during a prisoner rehabilitation event next to London Bridge.  

An inquest heard his Prevent officers had ‘no specific training’ in handling terrorists.

The Prevent Strategy was launched in 2006 under the New Labour government. 

The home secretary of the time, John Reid, warned Britain was facing ‘probably the most sustained period of severe threat since the end of the second world war’ due to a new breed of ‘unconstrained international terrorists’. 

A year before, on July 7, 2005, four suicide bombers struck London’s transport network, killing 52 people and injuring over 770 others. 

Prevent, which has been reformed several times since its initial launch, has the aim of stopping people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. It is intended to tackle the ideological causes of terrorism and intervene early to support people susceptible to radicalisation.

ISIS fanatic Ali Harbi Ali, who fatally stabbed Tory MP Sir David Amess outside a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in 2021, was referred to Prevent in 2014

ISIS fanatic Ali Harbi Ali, who fatally stabbed Tory MP Sir David Amess outside a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in 2021, was referred to Prevent in 2014

Reading knifeman Khairi Saadallah, 27, was referred to Prevent over fears he could carry out a 'London Bridge-style attack'

Reading knifeman Khairi Saadallah, 27, was referred to Prevent over fears he could carry out a ‘London Bridge-style attack’

Another terrorist referred to Prevent was Usman Khan, 28, who fatally knifed Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, during a prisoner rehabilitation event next to London Bridge

Another terrorist referred to Prevent was Usman Khan, 28, who fatally knifed Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, during a prisoner rehabilitation event next to London Bridge

Under the programme, local authority staff and other professionals such as doctors, teachers and social workers have a duty to flag concerns about an individual being radicalised or drawn into a terrorism. 

Less serious reports may be sent to council services, which could include parenting support for families whose children have been watching inappropriate videos online.

Serious reports are forwarded on to Prevent’s Channel stage, at which a panel of local police, healthcare specialists and social workers meeting monthly will consider the case.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs that a review of Rudakubana’s contact with the programme found he had ‘admitted to having carried a knife more than ten times, yet the action against him was far too weak’.

She said he was referred to Prevent repeatedly because he was ‘expressing interest in school shootings, the London Bridge attack, the IRA, MI5 and the Middle East’.

Tablet computers at his home showed he downloaded papers on historical violence by the Nazis, Genghis Khan and even relatively obscure conflicts in French colonies during the 17th century – plus footage of beheadings and torture.

As well as the digital discoveries, a machete and scabbard, a set of arrows and a black holdall were found in Rudakubana’s bedroom at the family home in Banks, Lancashire, a village five miles north of Southport.

The Prevent review, conducted since the summer, has concluded that ‘too much weight was placed on the absence of ideology’ and that his case ‘should not have been closed’ by counter-terror police who were assessing whether he posed a threat.

Prevent was launched by the New Labour government following the 7/7 bombings in London

Prevent was launched by the New Labour government following the 7/7 bombings in London 

The home secretary of the time, John Reid, warned Britain was facing 'probably the most sustained period of severe threat since the end of the second world war' due to a new breed of 'unconstrained international terrorists'

The home secretary of the time, John Reid, warned Britain was facing ‘probably the most sustained period of severe threat since the end of the second world war’ due to a new breed of ‘unconstrained international terrorists’

It has been increasingly common for teenagers to be involved with Prevent, with more under-18s being referred per year than at any point since recent records began – although the number who are then judged as needing help has fallen.

A total of 3,918 people under the age of 18 in England and Wales were referred to Prevent in 2023/24, according to Home Office figures.

This is up from 3,773 in 2022/23 and is the highest number for this age group since current data began in 2016/17.

While the number of under-18s referred to Prevent has risen in recent years, the numbers discussed at a Channel panel and adopted as a Channel case have both fallen.

There were 526 under-18s discussed at a Channel panel in 2023/24, down from 655 the previous year and the lowest number since current data began in 2016/17 (609).

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said today that Prevent has done “lots of good work” and said it was the system that failed.

He told LBC: “The Prevent programme does lots of good work. Clearly, the Prevent officers didn’t feel this was a case for them, that it was better dealt with by others.”

Pressed on why he would not say Prevent had failed, Sir Mark said it was the system that failed – somewhere between Prevent, local authorities and mental health.

He added: “We’re never going to stop every young violent man. We need to be as good as possible at it, and there are too many men, young men, online, obsessing about this violent material.

“Some of that’s about how we intervene with individuals, some of that’s about the rules for online material and what people can digest and watch and that’s part of the challenge.”

Addressing the nation earlier this week, Sir Keir Starmer suggested a new approach to tackling terrorism was necessary due to a new threat from ‘extreme violence carried out by loners [and] misfits’ after being radicalised in their bedrooms. 

‘The predominant threat was highly organised groups with clear political intent – groups like al Qaida,’ he said. 

‘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.’

Rudakubana skulks in the back of a taxi on his way to murder three young girls

Rudakubana skulks in the back of a taxi on his way to murder three young girls

The PM continued: ‘My concern in this case is we have clearly got an example of extreme violence, individualised violence, that we have to protect our children from and our citizens from.

‘It is a new threat, it’s not what we would have usually thought of as terrorism when definitions were drawn up, when guidelines were put in place, when the framework was put in place and we have to recognise that here today.’

He said the law and framework for responding needed to be appropriate to the ‘new threat’ and whatever changes were necessary in the law would be made.

Sir Keir continued: ‘I do think it’s new. You’ve seen versions of it in America with some of the mass shootings in schools. 

‘It is not an isolated, ghastly example. It is, in my view, an example of a different kind of threat and that is why I’m absolutely so determined that we will rise to that challenge and make sure that our law, our response, is capable, appropriate and can deal with that sort of threat.

‘But that is my concern, that is my thinking that this is a new threat – individualised extreme violence, obsessive, often following online viewing of material from all sorts of different sources.

‘It is not a one-off. It is something that we all need to understand and have a shared undertaking to deal with within our society.

‘That is not just the laws on terrorism, the framework on terrorism, it’s also the laws on what we can access online.

‘We still have rules in place in this country about what you can see at a cinema and yet online you can access no end of material. 

‘We have to ensure that we can rise to this new challenge and that is what I’m determined to do.’

Sir Keir said failures of state institutions in Rudakubana’s case ‘frankly leap off the page’.

He said: ‘As part of the inquiry launched by the Home Secretary yesterday, I will not let any institution of the state deflect from their failure – failure which in this case, frankly, leaps off the page.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, was one of the three children killed in the knife attack in Southport

Bebe King, six, was also killed in the knife attack at The Hart Space in Southport

Bebe King, six, was also killed in the knife attack at The Hart Space in Southport

‘For example, the perpetrator was referred to the Prevent programme on three separate occasions – in 2019 once and in 2021 twice.

‘Yet, on each of these occasions, a judgment was made that he did not meet the threshold for intervention – a judgment that was clearly wrong and which failed those families. And I acknowledge that here today.’

Speaking earlier this week, the Government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, agreed that Prevent needed to change ‘because of the Internet’.  

‘I think a review of Prevent and the mechanisms that exist for dealing with people who are obsessed by violence but not necessarily obsessed by ideology,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. 

‘I mean, you’ve got to go back to the 2000s, so there were the terrible 7/7 attacks on the London transport system, and the real threat there was Islamist terrorism coming from al Qaeda, which was group based. There was an emir, a leader. 

‘There were preachers, and there was this radicalising ideology, and the idea was you’d scoop up people who were obsessed by this sort of ideology, de-radicalise them, and that would help the public. 

‘But we’re living in a different world now, which is the internet world, where people don’t go to individuals. They’re not part of groups. They go to the computer, and they sometimes get a whole mix of stuff, and sometimes, I’m afraid, they just become obsessed by violence.’

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp called for all the recommendations of the Shawcross review to be enacted.

He told Times Radio: ‘There was quite a comprehensive review of Prevent by William Shawcross that was published in February of last year… So, one question I’ll be asking the Government is whether they plan to implement the recommendations in the Shawcross report. 

‘I think it’s just important the inquiry looks at all of this, gets to the truth both about what happened beforehand, but critically also the Government’s response afterwards, and what they knew when and whether they should have put more information into the public domain.

Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, was among the three little girls killed in the attack in Southport

Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, was among the three little girls killed in the attack in Southport 

Rudakubana, of Banks, Lancashire, is likely to die in jail for the ‘sadistic’ murders of three young girls – despite being spared a whole life tariff because he was under 18 at the time of the atrocity. 

But Mr Justice Goose, passing down 13 life sentences, said: ‘It is likely he will never be released.’ Family members in

Liverpool Crown Court took an audible breath as the sentence, thought to be the longest punishment handed to a killer of his age, was announced. Others held hands and hugged.

The court heard callous Rudakubana gloated about his sickening crimes in police custody, saying: ‘I’m glad those kids are dead, it makes me happy.’ 

He then tried to prolong the victims’ agony by disrupting proceedings yesterday, claiming to be ill and shouting from the dock before being removed from court twice.

When the sentence was passed, he refused to return and was left languishing in the cells as his fate was decided.

In harrowing victim impact statements, the girls’ families told how their lives had been destroyed. Alice’s parents Sergio and Alexandra Aguiar said: ‘Life without Alice is not living at all.’

Elsie’s mother Jenni Stancombe said of Rudakubana: ‘What you did was not only cruel and pure evil, it was the act of a coward.’

Mr Justice Goose said: ‘He wanted to carry out the mass murder of innocent and happy young girls.

‘Many might describe what he did as evil. Who could dispute it?’

You may also like

Leave a Comment

Soledad is the Best Newspaper and Magazine WordPress Theme with tons of options and demos ready to import. This theme is perfect for blogs and excellent for online stores, news, magazine or review sites.

Buy Soledad now!

Edtior's Picks

Latest Articles

u00a92022u00a0Soledad.u00a0All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed byu00a0Penci Design.

visa4d