Sir Keir Starmer has said Britain faces a new threat and that terrorism has changed in light of the Southport attack last summer.
Speaking the day after Southport killer Axel Rudakubana admitted murdering three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, the Prime Minister said the incident “is a sign that Britain is now facing to a new threat.”
“Terrorism has changed,” he said at a Downing Avenue news conference.
“In the past, the predominant threat was highly organized groups with clear political intentions. Groups like Al-Qaeda. That threat, of course, persists.
“But now, in addition to that, we also see acts of extreme violence perpetrated by lonely people, misfits, young people in their bedrooms accessing all kinds of online materials, desperate for notoriety, sometimes inspired by traditional terrorist groups, but obsessed with that extreme violence that seems only for itself.”
He added: “If a law needs to be changed to recognize this dangerous new threat, then we will change it and quickly, and we will also review our entire counter-extremism system to make sure we have what we need to defeat it.”
The Prime Minister announced that Sir David Anderson KC, an independent reviewer of counter-terrorism legislation, has been appointed as the new independent commissioner for Stop, the UK’s counter-extremism plan.
After his guilty plea, it was learned that Rudakubana was referred to the Stop plan three times in the 17 months before the attack over concerns about his fixation with violence, but on each occasion it was concluded that he did not require intervention.
Sir Keir said the Southport murders “must be a line in the sand for Britain” and there must be a “fundamental change” in the way the country protects its children.
He also revealed that he knew that Rudakubana was known to the authorities and referred him to Stop, but he could not reveal this at the time because he risked collapsing the trial.
“The vile individual who committed these crimes would have walked away, a free man, with the prospect of justice destroyed for the victims and their families,” he said.
“I would never do that, and no one would forgive me if I did. That is why the law of this country prohibited me or anyone else from revealing details before.”
On Mondays, Rudakubana unexpectedly pleaded guilty to the murder of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, on July 29 last year, on what was supposed to be the first day of their trial.
Rudakubana also admitted 10 charges of attempted murder and possession of a kitchen knife during the attack in the Merseyside town.
A week before the attack, Rudakubana, then 17, booked a taxi to take him to Vary Excessive College secondary school in Formby, but it is understood his father prevented him from leaving.
The teen, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, was expelled from school in around 2019 for claiming he was carrying a knife after telling Childline he was being racially bullied and brought the knife to protect himself.
It is understood that after his exclusion he returned to school to attack a former bully or someone he had a grievance with and assaulted someone with a hockey stick.
Rudakubana then attended two specialized schools, where teachers were concerned about his behavior.
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