Overview
- Deputy Assistant Commissioner Victoria Evans told the Southport Inquiry she worked with Merseyside Police and concluded the attack did not meet the Terrorism Act threshold for motivation.
- An academic study of an Al‑Qaeda training manual found at Axel Rudakubana’s home was linked to his fascination with violence, and he admitted a separate offence of possessing information useful for terrorism.
- Prevent officials testified that Rudakubana’s three referrals in 2019 and 2021 were closed for lack of an identifiable ideology despite earlier guidance that violent fixation could warrant Channel consideration.
- Cathryn Ellsmore said progression of such cases into Channel had been “staggeringly low,” and she reported a sharp rise in referrals concerning violent fixation since the Southport stabbings.
- Counter Terrorism Policing does not routinely place markers on Prevent assessment cases, leaving Lancashire officers unaware of Rudakubana’s history during a 2022 knife incident, and processes are under review.