Medics 'cleared to attend attack after 20 minutes'

The Southport Inquiry has heard more details about the emergency response to the attack

It took 20 minutes before ambulance crews were formally told it was safe to approach the scene of the Southport knife attack, the public inquiry into the murders has heard.

By that time some police officers and paramedics had already gone to the Hart Space dance studio where Axel Rudakubana had killed three girls and injured eight others.

The inquiry into the atrocity has been hearing from Ch Insp Andrew Hughes, one of the Merseyside Police incident managers on the day of the attack in July last year.

He said while in some cases emergency crews will gather at a rendezvous point away from an incident due to potential threats, in this case he decided unarmed officers should go straight to the scene.

He told the inquiry: "My concern was Article 2 [of the Human Rights Act] - the right to life - and we needed to deploy officers straight to the scene."

'Major incident'

The hearing, sitting at Liverpool Town Hall, was set up to explore the killer's history and contact with various agencies before he killed Alice Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, as well as wounding eight other girls and two adults in the attack at the Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

John Goss, counsel to the inquiry, said there was a disparity between the ambulance service log and the police log regarding precisely when ambulance crews were told it was safe to go to Hart Street.

Mr Goss said he was "not for a moment suggesting it was something that delayed deploying ambulances to the scene".

"But 20 minutes before even an inferred message that it is safe to approach the scene is quite a long time, isn't it?"

Ch Insp Hughes replied: "It is, yes."

Flowers and tributes to the victims of the attack were left outside Southport Town Hall

He agreed it would be a good idea if the different emergency services had training on better understanding of the joint communication systems they use.

Ch Insp Hughes also said he declared the attack to be an official "major incident" at 12:14 BST.

He agreed that decision could have been made earlier but said that would not have made any difference to the emergency response because by that time the number of emergency services on their way was already consistent with a major incident.

The officer said: "I found it difficult to understand how one person could inflict so many injuries on so many people."

Knife warning

The inquiry heard Sgt Gregory Gillespie and PC Luke Holden, armed with a Taser, entered the building and detained Rudakubana.

Mr Hughes said armed response officers continued to travel to the scene even after the suspect was arrested.

He said they then carried out a search of the building as well as helping to provide first aid.

The inquiry heard Rudakubana did not give any details when asked who he was, so was not identified until a call from taxi driver Gary Poland, who gave the address he had picked the teenager up from.

The police log showed that after the call officers noted Rudakubana lived at the house and was the subject of a warning marker for carrying knives.

The log also noted: "He has been logging on to school websites which involve school mass shootings and he talks about guns and beheadings."

The inquiry continues.