Southport row continues as watchdog urges Government and police to be more open

The Government and police should be more open about criminal investigations to avoid an information gap being filled by social media, the terror law watchdog has said, amid claims of a cover-up over the Southport attacks.

Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism laws, said the authorities should put all the information they can in the public domain.

His comments came as Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick suggested the State had been “lying” to the public about what was known about the alleged Southport attacker.

It was announced yesterday that Axel Rudakubana, the teenager accused of murdering three girls at a dance class in Southport, is facing additional charges of possessing ricin and an al Qaida document.

He appeared via videolink at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, refusing to speak during the short hearing and keeping his grey sweatshirt pulled up over his mouth and nose.

Mr Hall told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “The Government has to be aware, and will be aware, that if there is an information gap, particularly in the mainstream media, then there are other voices, particularly in social media, who will try and fill it.

“I would always say to the Government – and do say to the Government, as I say to the police – if there is information that you can give, put it in the public domain, and be really careful that you don’t fall into the trap of saying ‘we can only say zilch, because there are criminal proceedings’.

“Quite often, there’s a fair amount of information that can be put into the public domain, and I think I detect that the police are trying to do that.”

The line between whether a violent attack carried out by one individual is terrorism or not is often “wafer-thin”, he told the broadcaster.

The key test is whether an attack was intended to advance an ideological, political, religious or racial cause, Mr Hall said.

“It doesn’t follow, I’m afraid, that because someone has carried out a big attack that they therefore must be advancing a cause.

“There are cases, it sounds bizarre but it’s absolutely true, where someone has got al Qaida material, someone has got IRA material, someone’s got extreme right material and sometimes all that you can really say when you look at someone’s devices is ‘this individual is fascinated with violence’.”

Questions continue to be asked about what the Government knew and when about the new allegations.

Rudakubana, 18, is charged with production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

The terror offence relates to a PDF file entitled Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants, The Al Qaeda Training Manual.

He will next appear at Liverpool Crown Court on November 13.

The Crown Prosecution Service had to have authorisation from the government law officers the Attorney General or the Solicitor General to bring the ricin charge.

The BBC reported that senior figures in the Government were told about the possibility of new charges in the Southport case within the last few weeks.

Former prime minister Liz Truss, speaking on TalkTV, said that the materials subject to the new charges would have been found “fairly soon” after the knife attack when the suspect’s home was searched.

She said she found it “extraordinary” that the Prime Minister would not have known, and that it seemed that the public had not been told the truth.

Mr Jenrick told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I want to know when the Prime Minister knew: we don’t know that information, we don’t know what the advice of the police was in this case, and we don’t know why the police has chosen not to say this.

“The effect of this has been that there has been speculation over the summer, there has been a loss of trust in the police and the criminal justice process and I think that’s wrong.

“The State should not be lying to its own citizens.”

Asked if he thought the State had indeed lied, he said: “We don’t know. We don’t know the reason why this information has been concealed. Why has it taken months for the police to set out basic facts about this case that it is reasonable to believe were known within hours or days of this incident occurring?”

His Tory rival Kemi Badenoch said there were “serious questions to be asked of the police, the CPS and also of Keir Starmer’s response to the whole situation”.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, she added: “Parliament is the right place for this to happen.

“While we must abide by the rules of contempt of court and not prejudice this case, it is important that there is appropriate scrutiny.”

Rudakubana is already charged with the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, who were stabbed during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Hart Street, Southport, on July 29, as well as the attempted murder of eight other children, instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes, and possession of a knife.

The day after the attack, thousands of people turned out for a peaceful vigil in the town but later a separate protest erupted into violence outside a mosque in the town.

In the following week, protests took place in dozens of towns and cities across the country and descended into violence and rioting, with asylum centre hotels in particular targeted.

More than 1,000 arrests have since been made and hundreds of people have been charged and jailed.

A provisional trial date for Rudakubana has been set for January next year.