LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed on Tuesday (Jan 21) to “leave no stone unturned” to uncover failings by the state in preventing the killings of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed event, saying an inquiry could lead to a change in terrorism laws.
Starmer defended his government’s stance to not divulge many details earlier about the British teenager guilty of the killings by saying he did not want to collapse the case, but admitted there were failings.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, unexpectedly pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, in the English town of Southport in July, as well as to producing the deadly poison ricin and possessing an al Qaeda training manual.
Shortly afterwards, the government said Rudakubana had been referred to Prevent, a counter-radicalisation scheme, three times, but no action had been taken. Police said no one ideology had been uncovered and the case was not treated as terrorism.
It has now launched a public inquiry into the murders.
The attack led to riots around the country after false reports on social media said the suspect was a radical extremist migrant, and opponents have accused Starmer and the police of covering up what they knew.
The prime minister said failures would be made public and the attack could show that Britain faces a new type of terrorism threat waged by “loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms” committing extreme violence.
