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Southport inquiry's first public hearings revealed

Richard Baker
BBC News
Family handouts A composite image of Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar, and Bebe King. The three girls are all smiling as they pose for the camera. Elsie Dot Stancombe is wearing her maroon and yellow school uniform, Alice da Silva Aguiar is wearing a white dress and Bebe King is wearing a charcoal-coloured top.Family handouts
Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice Aguiar and Bebe King were murdered in the attack on 29 July 2024

Public hearings at the Southport knife attacks inquiry will begin on 8 July, it has been announced.

Axel Rudakubana,18, was jailed in January for a minimum of 52 years after he was convicted of murdering three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in the Merseyside town on 29 July 2024.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced in April that she had appointed former Court of Appeal vice-president Sir Adrian Fulford to chair the public inquiry.

His two-phase review will first look at policing, the criminal justice system and the agencies that were involved with Rudakubana. It will then examine the wider issue of young people being drawn into violent extremism.

PA Media Street-level photograph of the front of Liverpool Town Hall. A few pedestrians are walking along the pavement.PA Media
Hearings will begin at Liverpool Town Hall on 8 July

The Liverpool Town Hall hearings will begin with Sir Adrian's opening statement at 14:00 BST.

Evidence from four families whose children were injured in the knife attacks will be heard the following day.

Sir Adrian previously presided over the 2021 trial of Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens - who was sentenced to a whole-life tariff for the murder of Sarah Everard.

Cooper said: "Sir Adrian Fulford will bring a wealth of legal and criminal justice expertise to this role, and I am pleased he has agreed to chair the inquiry."

The home secretary said she hoped the public inquiry would "provide insights into any failings that allowed a young man with a previous history of violence to commit this horrendous attack".

Cooper described "the brutal murder of three young girls" as an "unimaginable tragedy".

"We owe it to their families - and all those affected on that terrible day - to quickly understand what went wrong, answer difficult questions and do everything in our power to prevent something like this from happening again", she said.

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