An inquiry into the Southport stabbings has been announced by the government.

It comes after Axel Rudakubana, 18, admitted murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in the attack in Southport, Merseyside, in July last year.

In a statement, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that now there has been a guilty plea, “the families and the people of Southport need answers about what happened leading up to this attack”.

Politics latest: PM says ‘grave questions to answer’ over Southport

It has now emerged that Rudakubana was referred to the government anti-extremism scheme – known as Prevent – three times before the murders due to a fixation with violence.

In her statement, Ms Cooper said these three referrals happened in the 17 months between December 2019 and April 2021, when Rudakubana was 13 and 14 years old.

He was also in contact with the police, the courts, the youth justice system, social services and mental health services.

“Yet between them, those agencies failed to identify the terrible risk and danger to others that he posed,” Ms Cooper said.

“We also need more independent answers on both Prevent and all the other agencies that came into contact with this extremely violent teenager as well as answers on how he came to be so dangerous.”

Rudakubana is set to be sentenced on Thursday – with the judge saying a life sentence is “inevitable”.

Sir Keir Starmer said earlier today: “The news that the vile and sick Southport killer will be convicted is welcome.

“It is also a moment of trauma for the nation and there are grave questions to answer as to how the state failed in its ultimate duty to protect these young girls.

“Britain will rightly demand answers. And we will leave no stone unturned in that pursuit.”

After the attacks in July 2024, there were calls for more information about what was known by authorities to be released and violent riots took place across the country.

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Mugshot of Axel Rudakubana released
People of Southport are trying to make sense of horror

Ms Cooper said the government was not able to release more information sooner about Rudakubana because the Crown Prosecution Service wanted to “avoid jeopardising the legal proceedings” – including any potential trials – “in line with the normal rules of the British justice systems”.

However, the government launched an “urgent” review into Rudakubana’s contact with Prevent last summer – and details will be published this week.

Ms Cooper said this “terrible case” comes against a “backdrop” of increasing numbers of teenagers being referred to Prevent, investigated by anti-terror police being referred to other agencies “amid concerns around serious violence and extremism”.

“We need to face up to why this has been happening and what needs to change,” she said.

Speaking earlier today, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: “As we learn more details of Axel Rudakubana’s horrific crimes, my thoughts are first and foremost with the victims’ families.

“We will need a complete account of who in government knew what and when. The public deserves the truth.

“This case is still in court and there are, properly, limits on what can be said at this stage.

“But once it concludes on Thursday with sentencing, there are many important questions the authorities will need to answer about the handling of this case and the flow of information.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage accused the government of a “cover-up”, and said the “vacuum of information” led to the riots.

He called on Ms Cooper to make an apology in the Commons.

Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana was referred to the government’s anti-extremism Prevent scheme three times before the murders.

Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty to the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at Liverpool Crown Court on what was due to be the first day of his trial on Monday.

He also admitted 10 counts of attempted murder and possession of a kitchen knife over the mass stabbing as well as charges of producing ricin and possessing an al Qaeda training manual found in searches of his home in Banks, Lancashire, in the following days.

Eight other children, aged between seven and 13, along with yoga instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes were injured in the attack at the Hart Space in the Merseyside town on 29 July.

It has now emerged he was referred to Prevent three times amid concerns over his fixation with violence.

Anyone referred to the scheme is assessed and if deemed a terrorism risk referred to another programme, Channel, although many referrals don’t result in any further police action.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said there were “grave questions to answer as to how the state failed in its ultimate duty to protect these young girls”.

Just a week before the attack, Rudakubana, then 17, booked a taxi to take him to Range High School in Formby, but his father stopped him from leaving, it is understood.

The teenager, who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, was expelled from the school in around 2019 over claims he was carrying a knife after telling Childline he was being racially bullied and brought the knife to protect himself.

It is understood that, after his exclusion, he returned to the school to target a former bully or someone he had a grievance with and assaulted someone with a hockey stick.

Rudakubana then attended two specialist schools, where teachers were concerned about his behaviour.

Not guilty pleas had previously been entered on Rudakubana’s behalf to all 16 charges after he stayed silent at previous hearings.

He refused to stand or confirm his identity as he changed his pleas to guilty, while none of his victims’ family members were in court, as prosecutors were expected to open their case on Tuesday.

Wearing a grey tracksuit and surgical face mask, he showed no emotion as he was taken down to the cells, surrounded by four dock officers and an intermediary.

The judge, Mr Justice Goose said he would sentence the teenager on Thursday, telling him: “You will understand it is inevitable the sentence to be imposed upon you will mean a life sentence.”

But he is not expected to be handed a whole life order, a sentence meaning he would never be released, because of his age at the time.

Judges can only impose the term on criminals who were aged 21 and over at the time of the offence, but it can be considered for those aged 18 to 20 in exceptional circumstances.

The Southport attack, which has not been declared terror-related, sparked a wave of violence across the country as riots broke out after posts spread online that claimed the suspect was a 17-year-old asylum seeker, who had come to the country by boat.

After the guilty plea today, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Ursula Doyle said: “This was an unspeakable attack, one that has left an enduring mark on our community and the nation for its savagery and its senselessness.

“At the start of the school holidays, a day which should’ve been one of carefree innocence, of children enjoying a dance workshop and making friendship bracelets, became a scene of the darkest horror as Axel Rudakubana carried out his meticulously planned rampage.

“It is clear that this was a young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence. He has shown no sign of remorse.”

Read more from Sky News:
Police release mugshot of Rudakubana
How the people of Southport are trying to make sense of horror

Rudakubana was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, where neighbours of the family described a “lovely couple” with a hardworking father and stay-at-home mother to “two boisterous boys”.

In 2013, they moved to the village of Banks, just a few miles outside of Southport, where his father, Alphonse Rudakubana, trained with local martial arts clubs.

A profile of Mr Rudakubana, printed in local newspaper the Southport Visiter in 2015, said he was originally from Rwanda, a country that suffered a deadly genocide in the early 1990s, and moved to the UK in 2002.

When he was 11 years old, Rudakubana appeared dressed as Doctor Who in a television advert for BBC Children In Need, after being recruited through a casting agency, it is understood.

The now-deleted clip shows him leaving the Tardis wearing a trench coat and tie to look like the show’s former star David Tennant and offering advice on how best to raise money.

At his first appearance at Liverpool Crown Court, Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, said it was understood Rudakubana had been unwilling to leave the house and communicate with his family for a period of time before the attack.

“He was seen by the psychiatrists at the police station but refused to engage with them,” she said.

The court was told he had no obvious evidence of mental health disorder which required hospital treatment and his mother, father and older brother were said to have been co-operating with police and had provided witness statements.

Almost half of the 40 hospitals promised by the previous Conservative government have been delayed, the health secretary has said.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Wes Streeting said 18 of the projects will now be started between 2030 and 2039, instead of by the original 2030 deadline.

Mr Streeting launched a scathing attack on the Conservative Party for making the promise to build the facilities without a clear funding plan.

Politics latest: ‘Questions to answer’ over Southport – PM

He said the new plans would “give patients an honest, realistic, deliverable timetable that they can believe in”.

Mr Streeting added: “This Labour government is rebuilding our NHS and as we do so, we will also rebuild trust in politics.”

He claimed funding for the 40 projects was due to run out by March this year.

The promise to build 40 new hospitals by 2030 was originally promised by Boris Johnson in the 2019 election campaign.

There have long been questions about the feasibility of the projects – including on cost grounds, the suitability of plans for new hospitals, and whether each project actually included a new hospital or rather an improvement to previous facilities.

Some £20bn in funding promised by the last government was “never delivered”, according to a government announcement today.

The new timetable will be backed by £15bn over consecutive five-year waves – which the government says works out to £3bn a year.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Streeting said hospitals already with full business cases or already under construction will continue on their current timetable.

He then set out a new timetable for the rest of the scheme.

Wave one – which includes hospitals made primarily of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) – will be started between now and 2030.

A second wave of nine projects will be started between 2030 and 2035, with a third wave of a further nine being started between 2035 and 2039.

The details of which hospital is in which wave can be found on the government website.

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Mr Streeting said: “The New Hospital Programme we inherited was unfunded and undeliverable. Not a single new hospital was built in the past five years, and there was no credible funding plan to build forty in the next five years.

“When I walked into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), I was told that the funding for the New Hospital Programme runs out in March. We were determined to put the programme on a firm footing, so we can build the new hospitals our NHS needs.

“Today we are setting out an honest, funded, and deliverable programme to rebuild our NHS.”

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Morag Stuart, chief programme officer for the New Hospital Programme, said: “This announcement by the Department of Health and Social Care provides certainty on the next steps for the New Hospital Programme.

“We will continue to work with local NHS organisations to deliver improvements to hospitals across England, including making best use of new technology and improving layouts – and ensuring future hospitals are designed to meet the needs of patients and staff.”