hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan, welcome to this hour. we begin with breaking news. uk prime minister sir keir starmer has announced a public inquiry into the murder of three schoolgirls at a taylor swift—themed dance class, in southport last summer. after the violent events in southport, riots erupted across the country, with some social media posts wrongly claiming that the knifeman— who was born in cardiff — was actually an asylum seeker. on monday, 18—year—old axel rudakubana pleaded guilty to stabbing the girls last july. in the wake of his plea it emerged he'd had contact with a range of different state agencies throughout his teenage years, including the police, social services and mental health services. speaking in downing street in the last few minutes, sir keir said that the perpetrator was referred to a prevent programme on three occasions but, on each occasion, the judgment that he did not meet the threshold for

intervention was wrong. he said the tragedy must be a line in the sand for britain and the attack in southport in the north west of england was "senseless" and "barbaric". let's hear more of what the prime minister had to say. the responsibility for this barbaric act lies, as it always does, with the vile individual who carried it out. but that is no comfort. and more importantly, it is no excuse. and so, 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. 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. throughout this case to this point, we have only been focused on justice. if this trial had collapsed because i or anyone else had revealed crucial details while the police were investigating, while the case was being built, while we were awaiting a verdict, then the vile individual who committed these crimes would have walked away a free man. the prospect ofjustice destroyed for the victims

and their families. i would never do that, and nobody would ever forgive me if i had. that is why the law of this country forbade me or anyone else from disclosing details sooner. nonetheless, it is now time for those questions. and the first of those is whether this was a terrorist attack. the blunt truth here is that this case is a sign britain now faces a new threat. terrorism has changed. in the past, the predominant threat was highly organised groups with clear political intent. groups like al-qaeda. 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. now, it may well be that people like this are harder to spot, but we can't shrug our shoulders and accept that. we can't have a national security system that fails to tackle people who are a danger to our values, our security, our children. sir keir starmer speaking just a few moments ago at downing

street. with more on the background to this, our correspondent danny savage reports. an attack on young children attending a summer holiday dance class on an ordinary street in an ordinary town. some of the girls fled, terrified, into this man's home. they ran across to me and said, "i've been stabbed. i think i'm going to die." so i just took them all in the house, locked the door, and i ran back over there to see what i could do. these are the children who died. bebe king was six years old. elsie dot stancombe was seven. alice aguilar was nine. yesterday, axel rudakubana pleaded guilty to their murders. he also admitted attempting to murder ten other people, including eight children, producing a biological toxin, ricin, and possessing terrorist materials. rudakubana's trial should have started today, but because he changed his pleas yesterday, no jury will be sworn in.

he will be sentenced on thursday. he seemed to be destined for better things as a child. this is him dressed as doctor who in a children in need promotion in 2018. it's that time of year again! the charity has since said it has no affiliation with him. he called childline several times as a young teenager who went to school here, eventually saying he was going to take a knife into lessons due to racial bullying. this is one incident which led to him being expelled. this man was a parent at the school. my daughter had witnessed him chasing a kid with a hockey stick outside a maths class through one of the corridors, and it was apparently well known to her and herfriends and to the school that he had a kill list. several times before the attack, he was referred to the government's counter—terrorism prevent programme over his general obsession with violence. with this in mind, the home secretary is pledging

reforms to the prevent programme, and she has announced a public inquiry into the attack. in a statement, she said... southport, though, is still trying to recover from what rudakubana did. i'm pleased that he's actually admitted that he's done it, so that it's not putting the families through more grief, and hopefully he'll get the sentences that he deserves. my little boy was frightened — weren't you? — of going out in the street, and things. so, yeah, it's had a lot of impact on the town. all eyes will be on the sentencing hearing later in the week. danny savage, bbc news. let's speak to our political correspondent henry zeffman.

he is in downing street. sir keir starmer hasjust he is in downing street. sir keir starmer has just wrapped up keir starmer has just wrapped up speaking. remind us of some of the main points of what he said. i of the main points of what he said. , ., , , ., said. i should 'ust explain, ou said. i should 'ust explain, you might — said. i should just explain, you might see _ said. i should just explain, you might see some - said. i shouldjust explain, i you might see some cabinet ministers going on behind me, there is a cabinet meeting taking place very shortly, that was actually the attorney general so he will have a lot to do with this and i'm sure the cabinet will reflect on what the prime minister said in his speech this morning. what he said was pretty significant, i think this was one of the big moments of his six or so months in downing street so far because he started with addressing the horrific, brutal, he called them, murders committed by axel rudakubana to which he pleaded guilty in liverpool yesterday but then he broadened it out much more, talked about the changing nature of terrorism, said that where once you might�*ve terrorist activities committed by people with a clear allegiance to a terrorist group such as al-qaeda, he said you

have loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms and he questions whether the kind of legal architecture of the state has kept pace with that, lord anderson kc, previously an independent adviser to the government and terrace legislation, it was announced, will look at the prevent counterterrorism system which as we now know failed to pick up as we now know failed to pick up axel rudakubana after he was referred. then he talked much more broadly about the changing nature of people have fallen into parallel lives. he talked about what we owed it to each other fraying. this was the prime minister promised not only that he will deal with the specific things that have come out in this case and this trial, but more broadly talking about how he wanted to use those to address what he saw as failings in british society.— in british society. failings, and this inquiry, _

in british society. failings, and this inquiry, what - in british society. failings, | and this inquiry, what form will it take? it and this inquiry, what form will it take?— will it take? it will be a ublic will it take? it will be a public inquiry - will it take? it will be a public inquiry and - will it take? it will be a public inquiry and that| public inquiry and that actually has quite specific meanings in the uk. a public inquiry with a capital i, there is legislation called the inquiries act meaning it will take some time, probably a judge will be appointed and legal counsel to represent people involved and cross examine people. what i think it is almost more important is what questions it is geared up to address. is it going to look at the failings from various public institutions, or watch keir starmer clearly believes to be failings, he said they leapt off the page, the failings from the various public authorities to whom axel rudakubana was referred. i think clearly it will do that, but will it also look at some of the other things keir starmer touched on? i don't know yet, but i wonder whether it will look at bigger questions of what terrorism means these days, the ways in

which britain's various counterterrorist measures have not caught up with that, but also the internet and the availability of things which might inspire terrorists on the internets and social media sites. i don't know if a public inquiry can look at that, probably not, but clearly the prime minister believes that is at the heart of this too.- at the heart of this too. henry zeffman. _ at the heart of this too. henry zeffman, thank _ at the heart of this too. henry zeffman, thank you _ at the heart of this too. henry zeffman, thank you for - at the heart of this too. henry i zeffman, thank you for bringing us up to date on the developing story. there is more on what the prime minister said on the bbc news website, we are running a live page and you can see more on that. let's stay with that story. let's speak to our correspondent yunus mulla who is in southport. what has been the reaction and what are likely to be some of the questions people will be asking up that now this inquiry has officially been announced? the emergence of the three young children shock to the country, we had those riots in towns and cities but more than

anything else this town recognises the pain and the anguish of the families of the three young children, the other victims, and what axel rudakubana did not only to those families and victims but also to the reputation of this seaside resort. so they had their own questions and they will have been listening to those comments made by the prime minister today about what will happen going forward and they had their own questions. hopefully they feel they will get some of the answers from the public inquiry announced into what went wrong, there was failings and why he was not identified as a terrible risk and as dangerous before the attacks of the summer of last year. failings from a number of different agencies, we know he was known to police, the youth justice system, social services and mental health services, but

despite that he was not identified as a risk. and of course we also have those three referrals to the government's counterterrorism prevent scheme and, again, he was not identified as dangerous. that would be of concern to a lot of people here. the town's mp says people here. the town's mp says people are feeling quite emotional at the moment, not many people were expecting axel rudakubana to plead guilty like he did yesterday, in fact he had not spoken, really, before that, so that came as a surprise, but what many people are now hoping and looking forward to in some way is thursday when he will be given that sentence and they will be hoping, of course, thatjustice will be done for the families and the victims of axel rudakubana.— and the victims of axel rudakubana. , ~ . rudakubana. yunus mulla in southport. _ rudakubana. yunus mulla in southport, thank _ rudakubana. yunus mulla in southport, thank you - rudakubana. yunus mulla in southport, thank you very . rudakubana. yunus mulla in - southport, thank you very much. yunus mulla mentioned the town's mp. we can now speak to

him. let's speak to the labour mp for southport, patrick hurley. i would like your thoughts in reaction to what the prime ministerjust sad. i’m reaction to what the prime ministerjust sad. minister 'ust sad. i'm really leased ministerjust sad. i'm really pleased the _ ministerjust sad. i'm really pleased the prime - ministerjust sad. i'm really pleased the prime minister| ministerjust sad. i'm really - pleased the prime minister has so forcefully got a grip of this issue. for too long we have been unable to speak, at risk of prejudicing the trial. i was very clear back on the 29th ofjuly and in the weeks and months afterwards that any speculation as to the motives all the background of the murderer could have raced to the trial collapsing. i was imploring people, please, do not go on social media and post your thoughts because the families deserve justice. your thoughts because the families deservejustice. we families deserve justice. we are families deservejustice. we are now at the stage where the families and the communities are starting to receive justice. the sentencing will take place on thursday, that is the next stage in the process, but i'm really pleased that now the prime minister is at

liberty to be able to make these plans and set this inquiry in train that he has done so at pace. i am very clear that the failures of the prevent programme specifically but other agencies in other realms of the state more generally need to be investigated. the inquiry needs to be no holds barred and make sure we get to the root causes of why this merger, this vile individual, as the prime minister said, was free to commit to his act of murder, and make sure that never happens again —— get to the root cause of why this murderer.— root cause of why this murderer. , ., ., murderer. prevent is meant to be a flagship _ murderer. prevent is meant to be a flagship anti-terror- be a flagship anti—terror programme, do you think it is time for it to be scrapped? what is your take? it certainly needs to be — what is your take? it certainly needs to be reformed - what is your take? it certainly needs to be reformed and - needs to be reformed and brought up to date. the threat from extremism is not maybe as

it was 20 or 30 years ago, the threat from extremism is much more distributed and non—organisational in the may 20205. we have people actively self—radicalise an online, this is notjust the murderer who pleaded guilty yesterday but these are others, there is kind of a parallel issue with some of a parallel issue with some of the rioters we saw back in the summer who themselves seem to have self—radicalised through the internets, through social media, finding other like—minded individuals without necessarily being part of a large formalised organisation or institution. i don't think that prevent specifically but the law enforcement and social services more generally have yet got to grips with the fact that that nature of the threat to the uk and we need to make sure that as well as the larger more well—known terror threats,

that we also as a country make sure we do not let people like rudakubana slip through our fingers again because the last thing i want to see... just briefly on _ thing i want to see... just briefly on that, _ thing i want to see... just briefly on that, because l thing i want to see... just briefly on that, because before you went 1536 00:17:16,140 --