The Home Secretary has confirmed the chair of the inquiry into the failings leading up to the tragedy
The Home Secretary has confirmed the chair of the inquiry into the failings leading up to the tragedy
Work on the inquiry into the murders of three young girls at a Southport children’s dance party has begun.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced the first phase of the Southport Inquiry will start today. The inquiry was announced in January 2025 after Axel Rudakubana admitted the murders of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, at a Taylor Swift-themed workshop in the town on July 29 last year.
The inquiry will examine failures leading up to the tragedy, and look in to what could have been done to prevent the murders.
Sir Adrian Fulford has been appointed as the chair of the inquiry, following consultation with the victims and families of those killed or affected by the attacks, and plans to travel to meet them as a first priority.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement earlier this year how he will leave no stone unturned in establishing the circumstances around the murders. The inquiry will be statuary and take place in two phases.
The first phase will investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack and the events leading up to it.
This will include examining an overall timeline of Rudakubana’s history and interactions with various public bodies including criminal justice, education, social care, and healthcare, as well as decision-making and information-sharing by local services and agencies.
In the second phase, wider issues of children and young people being drawn into extreme violence will be examined.
The inquiry has legal powers to receive evidence and hear witness testimony effectively, the government confirmed.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The brutal murder of three young girls: Bebe, Elsie and Alice in Southport was an unimaginable tragedy – we owe it to their families, and all those affected on that terrible day to quickly understand what went wrong, answer difficult questions and do everything in our power to prevent something like this from happening again.
“The Southport Inquiry will provide insights into any failings that allowed a young man with a previous history of violence, to commit this horrendous attack.
“Sir Adrian Fulford will bring a wealth of legal and criminal justice expertise to this role, and I am pleased he has agreed to chair the Inquiry.”
Sir Adiran Fulford has a legal background, particularly looking at issues relating to policing and the criminal justice system.
He is a retired Lord Justice of Appeal and former judge of the International Criminal Court 2003 to 2012. Previously, he was the Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) in 2019 and was the first Investigatory Powers Commissioner between 2017 and 2019.