Inquiry into Southport killings launched

The United Kingdom's prime minister admitted on Tuesday the government had failed to prevent the terror-related murders of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last year and that the country would redefine terrorism as a result.

Keir Starmer said 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana's murders on July 29 of three girls in the town of Southport in northwest England should not have been allowed to happen.

He added that the case should serve as a "line in the sand" after which government departments and law enforcement agencies change their thinking about who constitutes a terror threat.

Starmer was speaking after Rudakubana pleaded guilty on Monday to the three murders, and to the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults in the same incident. Rudakubana also pleaded guilty to producing the deadly toxin ricin and possessing a terrorist document.

"The blunt truth here is that this case is a sign Britain now faces a new threat," Starmer said in a public statement from 10 Downing Street. "Terrorism has changed."

He said the new terror threat does not come exclusively from religious or political extremists but also from "loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms" with an interest in "extreme violence".

He made the comments after his government announced it would hold a public inquiry into the killings and Rudakubana's contact with agencies that should have prevented them.

Starmer said the public inquiry will seek to establish why Rudakubana, who had a long history of violence and whom police officers had visited at least five times, was not identified as a possible terrorist and put through deradicalization programs, despite having been referred to them on numerous occasions.

He also said the government would review the UK's terrorism laws and change them if necessary.

Starmer added that the inquiry will also look into whether the authorities released enough information about the killings in their immediate aftermath.

Rudakubana will be sentenced on Thursday.

earle@mail.chinadailyuk.com