𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Teachers will be trained to spot killers to avoid a repeat of the Southport atrocity, Shabana Mahmood has revealed. The Home Secretary, in a statement to Parliament, confirmed the Government has accepted all 67 recommendations from a damning probe.

Teaching staff will be given a greater role in preventing tragedies, with the Department for Education drawing up “strengthened” guidance on referring violent children to Prevent and more training to spot the signs of radicalisation. And more parents face fines if they fail to prevent their children running amok, with ministers backing the use of more ‘parenting orders’.

The Government published its response to the findings of the first phase of the inquiry on Thursday.

The Home Secretary said: “The Southport Inquiry identified fundamental failings, across many of our public services, in the years leading up to July 2024. These devastating failures led to the senseless killing of three young girls and violent attacks on others.

“My thoughts today are first and foremost with the families and friends of Bebe, Elsie and Alice and all the victims of that awful day. We owe it to them to right these wrongs.

“For that reason, we have accepted Sir Adrian’s recommendations for central Government in full. My department will now drive this work across Government, with the urgency it deserves.

“We will do whatever is needed to protect the public.”

Axel Rudakubana, then 17, killed three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29, 2024 and attempted to murder 10 others.

Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice de Silva Aguiar, 9, died after sustaining multiple stab wounds during the attack.

The inquiry found parents Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire knew their son was hoarding knives, had been making poison in his room and had a sick obsession with violence.

And the Southport Inquiry chairman, Sir Adrian Fulford, in a scathing assessment, revealed how they ignored their son’s determination to carry out an attack.

He recommended that a legal duty be established requiring parents, legal guardians, or bystanders to report criminal activity.

The inquiry concluded the sick teen’s parents, police, mental health services, council chiefs and Prevent all failed to intervene properly, despite glaring signs of the risk Rudakubana posed.

Sir Adrian found that Alphonse Rudakubana turned a “blind eye” to the weapons deliveries because he wanted “to avoid confrontation” with his violent son, who he prevented from attacking a school a week before the Southport massacre.

In a damning assessment, Sir Adrian concluded: “If Alphonse R had acted more responsibly on 15 July 2024, he could – and should – have intercepted the large knives that AR had ordered, one of which he went on to use in the murders and attempted murders on 29 July 2024.

“AR’s parents knew that he had ordered at least one large knife. They knew that on 22 July 2024 he had planned to attack Range High School and believed that he had a knife. They then saw that he had other weapons hidden in his room and a suspicious substance. They saw at least one empty knife package when AR had left the house on the day of the attack. They reported none of this.”

His mother, Ms Muzayire, even went back to bed, Sir Adrian said, after hearing Axel had left the house on the morning of the attack.

They dismissed fears of him carrying out a knife rampage – less than a week after preventing him from attacking a school – as the teenager going out for a walk.

The Home Office response to the Southport Inquiry today stated: “Parenting orders have fallen out of practice in recent years, and the government considers that more effective use could be made of these to help prevent youth offending.

“Constructive engagement with parents or carers is a key part of the referral order process.

“Parents of children under the age of 16 are required to attend panel meetings and, in relation to children over 16, the court can choose to make an order requiring the parent to attend.

“Failure to attend without reasonable excuse may result in formal action by the court, including the possible imposition of a parenting order.

“Youth justice services are required to take into account any barriers to attendance, such as vulnerabilities or caring responsibilities, and provide appropriate support to enable meaningful participation.

“Panels may proceed without a parent only in exceptional circumstances.”

And teachers will face a greater burden in the future.

The Department for Education has been told to strengthen its guidance on referring violence-obsessed children to Prevent.

Schools must also improve their Prevent training.

The Government response added today: “This must ensure that staff are not just aware of when to make a Prevent referral but are also aware of (i) what happens once a Prevent referral is made; and (ii) the importance of ongoing dialogue, feedback and assessment between the referrer and the Prevent officer.”