The murders of three girls in Southport could have been prevented if the killer’s parents and authorities had acted on opportunities to deal with him in the years before the attack, according to the findings of the Southport Inquiry.
The first report from the inquiry into the Southport killings has just been published.
It states that it is “highly likely” the attack would not have occurred if various agencies had dealt with the killer’s behaviour earlier.
The Southport tragedy resulted in the murders of Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9.
Several young girls and an adult were wounded with others left traumatised.
The report concludes that if the killer’s parents “had done what they morally ought to have done”, he “would not have been at liberty to conduct the attack and it would not therefore have occurred”.
The key findings from the Southport Inquiry report identifies five “major areas of systemic failure”. They include:
- An “absence of risk ownership”, with no agency accepting responsibility for “assessing and managing the grave risk posed by the perpetrator”
- The report highlights how essential information was repeatedly lost or poorly managed across agencies, which led to “critical failures in information sharing”
- It also finds a “misunderstanding of autism” meant the killer’s conduct was “wrongly attributed to his autism spectrum disorder, leading to inaction and a failure to address dangerous behaviours”
- The killer’s online behaviour was “never meaningfully examined“, and “indications of his violent preoccupations” were missed due to this “lack of oversight of online activity”, the report adds
- There were also “significant parental failures“, with the killer’s parents permitting knives and weapons to be delivered to their home, and failing to “report crucial information in the days leading up to the attack”
Chair of the Southport Inquiry Sir Adrian Fulford writes in the report: “This terrible event could have been – and should have been – prevented.
He says the killer’s “trajectory towards grave violence was signposted repeatedly and unambiguously”, but the agencies responsible for safeguarding did not act “with the cohesion, urgency or clarity required”.
The chair also criticises the attacker’s family – saying if the “full extent” of their concerns had been “shared with authorities in late July 2024 – including on the day of the attack – it is almost certain this tragedy would have been prevented.
He accuses agencies of “repeatedly passing the risk to others and closing or downgrading their own involvement” – something he says is “not effective, or responsible, risk management”.
“This failure lies at the heart of why (the killer) was able to mount the attack, despite so many warning signs of his capacity for fatal violence.”
Sir Adrian Fulford says that today’s report is released “in recognition of Elsie, Bebe and Alice”, as well as their families and those who have been affected.
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