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You can keep up to date with our news story here - and we'll be back on Thursday with live coverage of Axel Rudakubana's sentencing.

Tom Symonds
BBC news correspondent

Police found ricin and a file entitled "Military Studies in the Jihad against the Tyrants, the Al Qaeda training manual" at Rudakubana’s house in early August within days of the attack.

It is likely the government was swiftly informed of the discovery. The BBC has been told the ricin was in a Tupperware box in his bedroom.

Rudakubana had already been charged with three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder on 31 July.

Searches continued at his home, taking some weeks because of the need to wear hazmat suits and give search teams a break every 40 minutes.

He was not charged with production of a biological weapon, and possession of information likely to be useful for terrorism until 29 October 2024.

Sources close to the case say police wanted to announce these charges eleven days earlier, on 18 October, but there was a holdup as the Crown Prosecution Service became involved with advising police on what information which could be made public at that point.

A source familiar with events said the CPS "put a load of red pen through the statement".

The police weren’t "able to get the reassurance stuff out" to the public, the source said, about the dangerous substance which had been found, and were concerned not revealing details of the case would stoke the public anger which had led to riots.

The decision about the charges relating to ricin also had to be agreed by the Attorney General, the government’s most senior lawyer.

Rudakubana was finally charged with the additional two offences on 29 October.

It was at this point, three months after the Southport attacks, that police made public for the first time that ricin, and the terrorism manual had been found.

He was not charged with preparing for acts of terrorism, because under current law this would involve finding evidence of a political motivation or ideology, and none had been found.

We've just had some new details from our correspondent Tom Symonds about the Axel Rudakubana case - we'll bring you them in the following post.

Adam Goldsmith
Live reporter

Britain faces a “new and dangerous threat” from extreme violence cultivated online, Sir Keir Starmer warned today in a press conference on the Southport killings.

Axel Rudakubana unexpectedly entered guilty pleas on Monday - admitting to murdering Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva on 29 July last year - was followed by a public inquiry into the attacks, announced by the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

This morning, the prime minister said the government will review its counter-terrorism system, saying "terrorism has changed" from past threats from highly organised groups to acts of extreme violence by “young men in their bedrooms” accessing material online.

Speaking in the Commons this afternoon, the home secretary said she would tell technology companies to remove “dangerous” material that Rudakubana was able to access online.

She also said it was "a total disgrace" that he was "easily able to order a knife on Amazon" despite the fact he had a previous conviction for violence and was only 17 years old.

The government's Prevent anti-extremism scheme also came under scrutiny after it emerged that Rudakubana had been referred to it three times before carrying out the killings. Cooper said a review is already under way on whether the initiative is fit for purpose.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp pressed for more. He said he wanted the inquiry to consider the government’s response to the killings, particularly whether more could have been done to address misinformation spreading about Rudakubana and prevent the summer riots which broke out across the country after the attack.

For now, there’s no confirmed date for the inquiry but we’ve got more on the government’s plans in our article, before Rudakubana’s sentencing takes place on Thursday.

The government's former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation and director of public prosecutions has called for an overhaul of the counter-terror strategy.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's World at One, Sir Max Hill KC says: "We should go back to a blank sheet of paper instead of trying to tick boxes of what is extreme and what is terrorism.

"We should reframe this in terms of what presents a threat and who presents a threat."

When asked about the designation of terrorism, he says: "The prime minister is right to ask the question, if we're going to put the terrorism label on an individual, does it fit and is it effective in dealing with an assessment of the threat posed by that individual? That's what's gone wrong here.

"Do we have too many labels here and not enough action... I don't think we're giving the authorities what they need with this overuse of labels."

Sima Kotecha
Senior UK correspondent

The Prevent programme has been mired in criticism since it was launched in 2007 following the 7/7 London terror attacks.

Its name comes from its overall objective - to prevent people from becoming involved in terrorism.

It works with people who have been identified by public bodies such as schools as being vulnerable to radicalisation and extremist ideology.

Those placed on the programme have included individuals supporting the far-right and Islamist terrorism.

Now it’s back in the spotlight after it emerged that Axel Rudakubana - the Southport attacker - was referred three times between 2019 and 2021, raising questions about what happened after each referral and why he didn’t meet the threshold for intervention.

In 2023, a review into the Prevent strategy said it had lost its way.

It was scathing in its criticism, with its author, William Shawcross, saying even though it had helped people to disengage from terrorism, it had "apparently failed to understand the danger in these cases".

He also said: "Prevent's first objective - to tackle the causes of radicalisation and respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism - is not being sufficiently met.

"Prevent is not doing enough to counter non-violent Islamist extremism."

We've just heard Home Secretary Yvette Cooper deliver a statement to the House of Commons about the Southport stabbings - here's a recap of what she said:

• The home secretary said Axel Rudakubana had admitted to carrying a knife "more than 10 times"
• Cooper called it "a total disgrace" that despite the fact he had a previous conviction for violence and was only 17 years old, he was "easily able to order a knife on Amazon"
• Rudakubana had been referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme three times - including following evidence he was "expressing interest in school shootings, in the London Bridge attack, the IRA, MI5 and the Middle East", but there was no onward referral to specialists
• Cooper criticised technology companies, and will contact them to remove "dangerous" material he was able to access online
• She said 162 people were referred to Prevent last year for concerns relating to school massacres, and raised concerns that more and more young people are being exposed "to ever more disturbing materials online"
• The government is also looking at contempt of court rules - which aim to ensure trials are fair and justice is done - as social media is putting existing laws "under strain"

In response, Cooper says Philp's statement represents a "substantial shift in position for him and his party from the position they've taken in government".

The inquiry into the Southport attacks will start "quickly on a non-statutory" basis and will be given "whatever power it needs", she says.

Addressing Philp's comments about the information available to the public about Rudakubana, Cooper says "it is not for the government to ignore the law or the advice that we are given when justice for families is at stake".

She adds that the previous Tory government did the same thing in other cases.

"The most important thing is to get justice," and "make sure the questions are answered about what went wrong and why three young girl's lives are lost", she adds.

Philp focuses on the "failure" of the government to tackle misinformation that spread online after the attack.

He says news that Rudakubana was charged with possessing the biological toxin ricin could have been made public back in August, instead of being delayed until October - he argues that when this information was eventually released, it didn't prejudice the trial.

"Does she (Cooper) accept there should and could have been more openness and transparency?" he asks.

"Will she confirm that the inquiry will look at that aspect of events?"

Philp mentions Rudakubana's multiple encounters with authorities "over a period of several years".

He says he hopes the inquiry will find out "whether mistakes were made, or whether the law needs to change".

Moving on to the question of transparency, Philp asks whether the inquiry will also look at how the government, police and Crown Prosecution Service responded to the murders, as well as the "handling of public communications and the appalling riots that followed".

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, is now given an opportunity to respond.

He begins by reflecting on the loss of the three murdered girls who were "robbed of their young lives" in Southport last year.

He says we owe it to their memory to learn the lessons of the incident, and therefore says he welcomes and supports the announcement of the inquiry.

The shadow home secretary says it is "vital to get to the truth" and says that the inquiry should be put on a statutory footing as soon as possible.

"There are times when something so unfathomably terrible happens, whatever words we find feel grossly insufficient," the home secretary says, "and that is how it feels over the Southport attack".

She says the responsibility "lies solely with the perpetrator".

But they have to "ask questions, no matter how difficult", about why it was allowed to happen. And "where change is needed, we must act", she says.

"We owe that to the victims...their loved ones...and the country."

The home secretary also says that laws need to keep up with the changing extremist threats the UK faces, and says it is for the police and Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether cases meet the definition set out in the Terrorism Act 2000.

But she says she's now asked for the legislation to be examined to ensure it is up to date.

Cooper then turns to the issue of "contempt of court" which aims to ensure that trials are fair and justice is done.

She says social media is putting these rules "under strain" and that the Law Commission is looking into this. However, she says that politicians must stick to these rules to ensure mistrials are avoided.

"If a killer walked free, we would never be forgiven," she observes.

"Two shocking facts around knife crime" emerged during this case, Cooper says.

The home secretary says it emerged that Rudakubana admitted to carrying a knife "more than 10 times".

"Yet the action against him was far too weak. And despite the fact he'd been convicted for violence and was just 17, he was easily able to order a knife on Amazon.

"That's a total disgrace and it must change. So, we will bring in stronger measures to tackle knife sales online in the Crime and Policing Bill this spring."

Cooper continues by setting out four other areas where the government will be taking action.

On Prevent, the government's counter-extremism scheme, she says details of a learning review of the programme will be published after Rudakubana's sentencing on Thursday.

She says the review concludes that too much weight is placed on ideology and it paid too little attention to whether the attacker was obsessed with violence.

"The three referrals [to Prevent] took place between three and four years before the Southport attack, including following evidence that he was expressing interest in school shootings, in the London Bridge attack, the IRA, MI5 and the Middle East.

"On each occasion, Rudakubana's case was assessed by counter-terror police but in each case there was no onward referral to specialist Channel support.

"The learning review has concluded the referrals should not have been closed and that cases such as these, given his age and complex needs, should be referred to Channel."

Cooper sets out where some changes have already been made to Prevent, but says these "do not go far enough".

The home secretary says that she will appoint Lord David Anderson KC as an interim Prevent commissioner, whose first task will be to undertake a thorough review of the initiative.

Cooper mentions a number of laws the government is bringing in to try and protect children on the internet later this year, but says "companies should take responsibility before then".

The home secretary says she will be contacting technology companies asking them to remove "dangerous" material that Rudakubana was able to access online.

"Companies should not be profiting from hosting content that puts children's lives at risk," she says.

The home secretary sets out details of a public inquiry into the attack.

She says it will begin on a non-statutory basis so that it can act quickly, but will eventually be given statutory powers.

The chair will be appointed once the coroner has been consulted and the families have been given the chance to comment, she says.

Cooper says: "I have been deeply disturbed at the number of cases involving teenagers drawn into extremism, serious violence and terrorism, including Islamist extremism, far-right extremism, mixed and confused ideology and obsession with violence and gore."

The home secretary says that 162 people were referred to Prevent last year for concerns relating to school massacres.

"So many of our children and teenagers are being exposed to ever more disturbing materials online, an online ecosystem that is radicalising our children while safety measures are whittled away."

The government was "constrained" with what information they could put out in the run up to the trial, Cooper says, to avoid prejudicing the jury. "Nothing" was more important than achieving justice, she says.

She mentions Rudakubana's numerous contact with the authorities, and Prevent, in the run up to the attack.

Together "they completely failed" to recognise the threat he posed, she says. There were "so many signs", but the action against him was "far too weak".

Yvette Cooper begins by reflecting on the events of the 29 July, when the stabbings took place.

"A moment of joy turned into the darkest of nightmares," she says, before naming and paying tribute to the three girls who were killed.

She also praises the police and first responders for their "courage".

She then addresses Rudakubana's guilty plea and says that now that the conviction has been secured, the country needs answers about how the attack happened.

Yvette Cooper is in the House of Commons chamber giving a statement on the Southport attack.

We'll follow her speech here for the key lines, and you can view the home secretary yourself by pressing watch live at the top of the page.

Image source, PA Media