Southport inquiry chairman declares 'this culture has to end' after uncovering series of failures ahead of dance class attack
GB NEWS
The report sets out key failures that 'overlapped and exacerbated' the killer's ability to carry out the attack
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The chairman of the Southport inquiry has declared "this culture has to end" after uncovering a series of damning failures ahead of an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Sir Adrian Fulford, who released his report today, used variations of the word "fail" 295 times and set out 67 recommendations.
The inquiry was called after AR, who GB News has chosen not to name at the request of the victims' families, killed three girls who attended a dance class in the Lancashire seaside town.
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were murdered when the 19-year-old entered the dance class armed with a knife on July 29, 2024.
The report sets out key failures that "overlapped and exacerbated" AR's ability to carry out the attack.
Sir Adrian identified Lancashire Constabulary’s Community Safety team's response to handing over AR's case to Prevent as a key failure.
Another failure centred around Prevent declining to refer AR to a channel panel on three occasions.
The report added: “Far too often, AR’s ‘case’ was passed from one public sector agency to another in an inappropriate merry-go-round of referrals, assessments, case-closures and ‘hand-offs.’
“This culture has to end. This failure lies at the heart of why AR was able to mount the attack, despite so many warning signs for his capacity for fatal violence.”
Other failures listed by Sir Adrian included poor information management and sharing, the excusing of AR’s behaviour on the basis of perceived or diagnosed autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the failure to oversee and intervene in AR’s online behaviour, and the role of the teenager's parents.
AR's parents were described as "too ready to excuse and defend AR's actions", adding: "They failed to stand up to his behaviour and set boundaries... and they ultimately failed to report the clear escalation in risk in the period July 22 to July 29, 2024."
Sir Adrian set out a total of 67 recommendations based on the findings of the Southport inquiry.
The inquiry targets key failures that allowed the attack to go ahead and the agencies that missed key details that failed to stop the attacker before his stabbing spree.
Sir Adrian included the Department for Transport, NHS England, the North West Ambulance Service, the Home Office, Lancashire County Council, Lancashire Constabulary, Merseyside Police, the Department for Health and Social Care, Counter Terrorism Policing North West, Prevent, and the Department for Education.
The recommendations will not be put forward as part of phase two of the Southport inquiry.