We will name police and social workers unless action taken, Southport families lawyer says
We will name police and social workers unless action taken, Southport families lawyer says
The legal representative for the families of the three murdered girls in Southport has stated that individuals responsible for failing to act in the case will be named unless appropriate disciplinary measures are implemented. The victims—Bebe King, six; Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine—were killed by 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in June 2024.
Public Inquiry Highlights Systemic Failures
A recent public inquiry described the situation as “catastrophic,” pointing to significant lapses in parental oversight and local authority responsibilities. It criticized the “merry-go-round” of referrals, evaluations, and handovers between agencies, which failed to address the “predictable and preventable” nature of the attack. Chris Walker, the families’ lawyer, indicated he is ready to identify key personnel from five agencies, emphasizing their unacceptable behavior.
“There are five particular state entities which are causing us most concern and we, frankly, find their behaviour unacceptable,” Walker stated during an appearance on BBC Breakfast. “Prevent, Lancashire Police, Lancashire Social Services, CAMHS, and FCAMHS.”
CAMHS refers to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, while FCAMHS is the Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. Prevent, a Home Office initiative, aims to stop individuals from becoming extremists and committing acts of violence. Walker confirmed he knows the names of those involved in the five agencies and is prepared to publicize their shortcomings if satisfactory disciplinary action is not taken.
“If necessary, if we’re not satisfied, I will be naming them publicly and I will be bringing out in the public domain once more their individual failings which is totally unacceptable,” he said. “The families, quite frankly, are aghast.”
The inquiry found that no agency or multi-agency framework took ownership of assessing and managing the “grave risk” posed by the attacker. His autism was cited as an “excuse” for past behavior, leading to a lack of awareness about the true threat he represented. Inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford highlighted the need to end a “culture” of responsibility shifting among agencies.
Walker described the failings as stemming from both parental negligence and systemic state shortcomings. He stressed that the performance of these agencies fell to an “unacceptable level” and that the attacks were foreseeable. “The murders were predictable and preventable,” he added, “and we find the systemic failures, the failures of the individuals at those particular five agencies I mentioned, to be wholly unacceptable.”
He has already reached out to the agencies, requesting disciplinary proceedings against individuals for their roles. Now, with the conclusion of the 760-page Phase One report, Walker intends to follow up to ensure these processes meet the families’ expectations. In a specific critique of Prevent, he noted: “Prevent have a real issue with understanding the word ‘ideology.’ They’ve failed to implement the ideological consequences or the ideological understanding in terms of their various gateways. The cause of somebody’s intention to cause mass murder is immaterial; it is the desire to cause mass murder that has to be prevented.”
Phase Two of the Southport Inquiry will begin immediately, focusing on the “adequacy of arrangements for identifying and managing the risk posed by individuals fixated with extreme violence.” Walker warned against the current system, stating: “It’s pointless having a glossy book sat at the end of somebody’s desk gathering dust with recommendations. We can’t have a situation where we lurch from disaster to disaster, from inquiry to inquiry—there has to be the change.”
“The families are living in a horror movie—and yesterday brought it all back,” Walker remarked. “Every time there’s a new report, every time there’s a new incident, they are reliving the horror movie once again—and that’s exactly where they are now.”
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