Families demand answers as Southport inquiry opens

Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Aguiar and were murdered in the attack on 29 July 2024

The families of three murdered schoolgirls have demanded "real change" before the start of the public inquiry into the Southport stabbing attacks later.

Alice Aguiar, nine; Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; and six-year-old Bebe King were killed on 29 July 2024 when Axel Rudakubana, then 17, walked into a dance workshop on Hart Street and began attacking children at random.

The Southport Inquiry will hold its first live hearings at Liverpool Town Hall this week.

Retired senior judge Sir Adrian Fulford will lead the inquiry and said the focus would first be on the circumstances leading to the attack, before looking at how young people are "drawn into extreme violence".

Nothing the inquiry could do would ever "change the unimaginable loss" of the families of the three murdered girls, Rachael Wong, director of law firm Bond Turner, and the families' solicitor, Chris Walker, said in a joint statement.

They added: "We all now have a responsibility to ensure that something like this never happens again...

"It is only through intense public scrutiny that real change can be effected."

Sir Adrian Fulford promised the inquiry would proceed "at pace and with rigour"

The hearing will begin at 14:00 BST with an opening statement from Sir Adrian, before some of the families of those injured begin giving evidence on Wednesday morning.

Rudakubana, from Banks in Lancashire, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years at Liverpool Crown Court in January this year.

He had previously pleaded guilty to the murders of Alice, Elsie and Bebe - plus 10 counts of attempted murder involving eight children and two adults - on what was supposed to be the first day of his trial.

Rudakubana, now 18, also admitted producing the biological toxin ricin in his bedroom and possession of terrorist material relating to an article containing an al-Qaeda training manual.

Reports emerged alleging that Rudakubana had attacked a prison officer with boiling water at HMP Belmarsh in May.

Sir Adrian called the attack "one of the most horrific crimes in our country's history" and promised to conduct the inquiry "at pace and with rigour".

The first part of the inquiry will look at issues including Rudakubana's contact with the government's counter-extremism service Prevent, which he was referred to three times, as well as other agencies.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the inquiry in April and said it would work for the families "to quickly understand what went wrong, answer difficult questions and do everything in our power to prevent something like this from happening again".

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