Home Sports Keir Starmer says ‘terrorism has changed’ and Britain faces new threat from ‘misfits’ after Southport murders

Keir Starmer says ‘terrorism has changed’ and Britain faces new threat from ‘misfits’ after Southport murders

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Keir Starmer says 'terrorism has changed' and Britain faces new threat from ‘misfits’ after Southport murders

Great Britain faces a new threat of terrorism from “extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms,” the Prime minister has said.

The Prime Minister spoke after the south port murders for Axel Rudakubana18 years old, who pleaded guilty Monday to murdering three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July.

Despite contact with state agencies such as Preventintended to fight terrorism, authorities failed to stop the attack that claimed the lives of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.

My concern in this case is that we clearly have an example of extreme violence, individualized violence, from which we have to protect our children and our citizens.

Sir Keir Starmer

Secretary of the Interior Yvette Cooper announced an investigation into the case on Monday night, saying the country needed “independent answers” about Prevent and other agencies’ contact with the “extremely violent” Rudakubana and “how he became so dangerous”.

Addressing the nation on Tuesday, sir Keir Starmer He said: “The predominant threat was highly organized groups with clear political intentions, groups like Al Qaida.

“That threat, of course, persists, but now we also see acts of extreme violence perpetrated by lonely people, misfits, young men in their bedrooms accessing all kinds of online material, desperate for notoriety, sometimes inspired by traditional terrorist groups , but obsessed about that extreme violence, apparently for its own sake.”

The Prime Minister continued: “My concern in this case is that we clearly have an example of extreme violence, individualized violence, from which we have to protect our children and our citizens.

“It is a new threat, it is not what we would normally have considered terrorism when the definitions were drawn up, when the guidelines were established, when the framework was established and we have to recognize that here today.”

He said the law and the framework for responding had to be appropriate to the “new threat” and that all necessary changes would be made to the law.

Sir Keir continued: “I think it’s new. You’ve seen versions of it in America with some of the mass school shootings.

“It is not an isolated and frightening example. In my opinion, it is an example of a different type of threat and that is why I am absolutely determined to rise to that challenge and make sure that our law, our response, is capable, appropriate and can address that type of threat. .

“But that’s my concern, my thought that this is a new threat: extreme, individualized, obsessive violence, which often follows the online viewing of material from all kinds of different sources.

“It is not something isolated. It is something we must all understand and make a shared commitment to address within our society.

“It’s not just about the terrorism laws, the terrorism framework, but also the laws about what we can access online.

“We still have rules in place in this country about what you can see in the cinema, and yet you can access endless material online. “We have to make sure we can rise to this new challenge and that is what I am determined to do.”

Addressing the inquiry announced on Monday, Sir Keir said the failures of state institutions in the Rudakubana case “frankly jump off the page”.

He said: “As part of the investigation launched yesterday by the Home Secretary, I will not allow any State institution to deviate from its failure, a failure that in this case, frankly, jumps off the page.

“For example, the perpetrator was referred to the Prevent program on three separate occasions: in 2019 once and in 2021 twice.

“However, on each of these occasions, it was ruled that he did not meet the threshold for intervention, a judgment that was clearly flawed and failed those families. And I recognize it here today.”

Mister Justice Goose said Rudakubana, Banks, LancashireHe will be sentenced on Thursday.

He is not expected to receive a life sentence because he was 17 at the time of the murders.. Measures can normally only be imposed on offenders aged 21 or over and are generally only considered for those aged 18 to 20 in exceptional circumstances.

Rudakubana, who was born in CardiffHe also admitted the attempted murders of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, teacher Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

In addition, he pleaded guilty to possession of a knife on the date of the attack, production of a biological toxin, ricin, on or before July 29, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit a act of terrorism.

The terrorism offense relates to a PDF file titled Military Studies in Jihad Against Tyrants, Al Qaeda’s training manual, which he is said to have possessed between August 29, 2021 and July 30, 2024.

Ricin, a deadly poison, and the document were found during searches at the Old School Close home he shared with his parents, originally from Rwanda.

During police searches of his home, documents about Nazi Germany, the Rwandan genocide and car bombs were found in Rudakubana’s devices.

Sources said the material showed an “obsession with extreme violence” but there was no evidence that he subscribed to any political or religious ideology or that he was “fighting for a cause.”

Riots broke out across the country following the Southport attack, and among the places attacked were mosques and hotels used for asylum seekers.

In the hours after the stabbing, information spread online claiming that the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK on a small boat.

The day after the attack, thousands of people attended a peaceful vigil in Southport, but a separate protest outside a mosque in the city later turned violent, with missiles fired at police and vans set on fire.

More than 1,000 arrests related to the disorder have been made across the country since the attack, and hundreds have been charged and jailed.

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