The Prevent counter-terror scheme failed to “provide what might have helped” Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana and Sir David Amess’s killer Ali Harbi Ali, an official report has found.
The report, by the scheme’s interim commissioner Lord Anderson, revealed that school staff had referred the pair of killers to Prevent – but they both went on to commit their crimes.
He also vowed that Prevent should “remain open to those with no fixed ideology”.
“A huge amount of effort has already gone into making Prevent a stronger programme than the one which failed to deal in 2014 with the future killer of Sir David Amess,” Anderson said.
“A blizzard of further initiatives has followed the Southport murders of last summer. Though it is too early for all of these to be fully evaluated, taken together they will reduce the chances of such failings being repeated.
“But more needs to be done. It has to be clear that people with a fascination with extreme violence can be suitable subjects for Prevent, even when they have no discernible ideology.”
“In the longer term, I believe that Prevent could work better as part of a comprehensive violence prevention and safeguarding strategy,” he added.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, in a written ministerial statement today, said: “Prevent failed to provide what might have helped them.
“Whether different decisions might have spared their victims will never be known: both attacks came years later, and many imponderables intervened.
“But wrong decisions were taken; more should have been done; and from these failures, lessons must continue to be learned.”
Now, Cooper has vowed to “immediately act” on Lord Anderson’s findings.
In her statement, she said officials will clarify Prevent thresholds in guidance for frontline workers – who have a duty to refer individuals to the scheme.
Workers will be told that those “fascinated with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks” should be referred to the counter-terror programme.
She said this work will be completed by the end of September.
The Home Secretary also said work will continue to look at how Prevent connects with wider violence prevention and safeguarding efforts, and will improve “transparency and information sharing” by the end of the year.
