The head of the Prevent counter-terrorism programme, Michael Stewart, is to carry the can for failures exposed by the Southport attack last year. Stewart’s role has been in question for some time, following revelations that Prevent failed to stop Axel Rudakubana murdering three girls at a dance class in Merseyside last July.
Rudakubana was first referred to Prevent in 2019, when he was just 13
A ‘Prevent learning review’ after the attack revealed a damning catalogue of basic failures. It found that counterterrorism police missed several chances to stop the killer, and that Prevent ‘prematurely’ dismissed the threat posed by Rudakubana on each of the three occasions he was flagged to the programme.
Rudakubana was first referred to Prevent in 2019, when he was just 13-years-old, after a teacher became concerned he was using the internet to research mass school shootings. He was referred again in February 2021, when he was 14; and finally in April 2021.
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