A public inquiry into the Southport tragedy starts today (Tuesday 8th July 2025).
The families of the three murdered schoolgirls have demanded “real change” after the tragic deaths of Alice Aguiar, nine; Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; and six-year-old Bebe King last summer.
The Southport Inquiry will hold its first live hearings at Liverpool Town Hall this week.
Retired senior judge Sir Adrian Fulford will lead the inquiry and said the focus would first be on the circumstances leading to the attack, before looking at how young people are “drawn into extreme violence”.
In a joint statement, Rachael Wong, director of law firm Bond Turner, and the families’ solicitor, Chris Walker, said: “Nothing the inquiry could do would ever change the unimaginable loss of the families of the three murdered girls.
“We all now have a responsibility to ensure that something like this never happens again.
“It is only through intense public scrutiny that real change can be effected.”
The hearing will begin at 2pm with an opening statement from Sir Adrian, before some of the families of those injured begin giving evidence on Wednesday morning.
The killer, now aged 18 but 17 at the time of the atrocity, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years at Liverpool Crown Court in January.
He had pleaded guilty to the murders of Alice, Elsie and Bebe, plus 10 counts of attempted murder involving eight children and two adults, on what was supposed to be the first day of his trial.
The murderer also admitted producing the biological toxin ricin in his bedroom and possession of terrorist material relating to an article containing an al-Qaeda training manual.
Sir Adrian Fulford called the attack “one of the most horrific crimes in our country’s history” and promised to conduct the inquiry “at pace and with rigour”.
The first part of the inquiry will look at issues including the killer’s contact with the government’s counter-extremism service Prevent, which he was referred to three times, as well as other agencies.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the inquiry in April and said it would work for the families “to quickly understand what went wrong, answer difficult questions and do everything in our power to prevent something like this from happening again”.
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