PA MediaThe Conservatives have called for the forthcoming public inquiry into the Southport murders to consider why the police, prosecutors and government did not make public more details about the killer last summer before his trial.Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer have both said the government could not have risked Axel Radukabana walking free by ignoring advice that publishing information could have jeopardised his trial.But Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it was likely an “information vacuum” had resulted in misinformation which “fuelled” the riots which followed the Southport attack.He asked why the discovery of ricin and a copy of an al-Qaeda training manual in Radukabana’s house could not have been swiftly revealed.Cooper said the government had wanted to make public that Radukabana had been referred to the counter-extremism programme Prevent, but could not because of legal advice.Rudakubana was charged with three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder on 31 July, shortly after launching his attack which killed Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine.Within days, in early August, officers searching Rudakubana’s home found ricin and a file entitled “Military Studies in the Jihad against the Tyrants, the Al Qaeda training manual”.The government was kept up-to-date about the discovery. The BBC has been told the ricin was in a Tupperware box in his bedroom.Police rarely give details of an ongoing investigation without what they describe as a “policing purpose”. In this case, false rumours were spreading online about the killer, including that he had migrated to Britain.Senior officers felt under pressure to reassure the public, and dispel some of the rumours about the suspect by making clear he was in fact British. But after discovering the ricin and manual they did not immediately make this public.The investigation continued, with searches taking weeks because of the need for teams to wear hazmat suits and take a break every 40 minutes.As they prepared to announce the outcome to the investigation, senior police officers became frustrated that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was advising them to withhold many details they felt should be made public, due to false claims online.The killer 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 handling of the case say police wanted to announce these charges and reveal the discovery of the ricin and manual 11 days earlier, on 18 October, but there was a hold-up as the CPS and the police negotiated over what could be said publicly.A source said the CPS “put a load of red pen through the statement”.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 the ricin and manual had been found.He was not charged with preparing f …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnPA MediaThe Conservatives have called for the forthcoming public inquiry into the Southport murders to consider why the police, prosecutors and government did not make public more details about the killer last summer before his trial.Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer have both said the government could not have risked Axel Radukabana walking free by ignoring advice that publishing information could have jeopardised his trial.But Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it was likely an “information vacuum” had resulted in misinformation which “fuelled” the riots which followed the Southport attack.He asked why the discovery of ricin and a copy of an al-Qaeda training manual in Radukabana’s house could not have been swiftly revealed.Cooper said the government had wanted to make public that Radukabana had been referred to the counter-extremism programme Prevent, but could not because of legal advice.Rudakubana was charged with three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder on 31 July, shortly after launching his attack which killed Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine.Within days, in early August, officers searching Rudakubana’s home found ricin and a file entitled “Military Studies in the Jihad against the Tyrants, the Al Qaeda training manual”.The government was kept up-to-date about the discovery. The BBC has been told the ricin was in a Tupperware box in his bedroom.Police rarely give details of an ongoing investigation without what they describe as a “policing purpose”. In this case, false rumours were spreading online about the killer, including that he had migrated to Britain.Senior officers felt under pressure to reassure the public, and dispel some of the rumours about the suspect by making clear he was in fact British. But after discovering the ricin and manual they did not immediately make this public.The investigation continued, with searches taking weeks because of the need for teams to wear hazmat suits and take a break every 40 minutes.As they prepared to announce the outcome to the investigation, senior police officers became frustrated that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was advising them to withhold many details they felt should be made public, due to false claims online.The killer 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 handling of the case say police wanted to announce these charges and reveal the discovery of the ricin and manual 11 days earlier, on 18 October, but there was a hold-up as the CPS and the police negotiated over what could be said publicly.A source said the CPS “put a load of red pen through the statement”.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 the ricin and manual had been found.He was not charged with preparing f …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
