Home Office data reveals the number of referrals to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme were the highest on record in the year to March following failings in the case of Southport killer Axel Rudakubana
The number of referrals to the Government’s counter-terrorism programme has reached the highest on record, with hundreds of children under 10 being investigated, chilling new data shows.
A total of 8,517 people were flagged to the Home Office’s Prevent scheme in the year to March, figures published on Thursday revealed. This was a 27% increase compared to the previous year.
Officials said referrals had spiked after failings emerged in the way Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was treated before the sickening attack. Rudakubana was referred to Prevent three times, but his case was closed due to a lack of distinct ideology.
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A total of 1,472 were escalated to the Channel scheme – the programme for the most serious cases. In February a review found Rudakubana should have been referred to Channel.
He went on to kill six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, in a horrific knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July 2024. He was jailed for the three murders and 10 attempted murders in January.
The chilling data showed over a third of those referred were aged 11 to 15, while 345 were children under the age of 10.
Home Office figures published on Thursday show that referrals in the “no ideology” category made up 4,917 (56%) – the largest proportion of referrals of the 8,769 cases where a type of concern was logged.
Concerns around ‘Extreme right wing’ ideologies accounted for more than one in five cases, with 1,798 referrals, the data showed. There were 870 for suspected Islamist extremism.
Schools, colleges and universities made the highest number of referrals, accounting for 36%, the figures show.
The Home Office wrote: “There was a 93% increase in the number of referrals discussed at a Channel panel compared with the previous year, rising from 893 to 1,727. The proportion of referrals discussed at a Channel panel also increased, from 13% to 20%. As noted above, this increase may have been influenced by awareness surrounding Rudakubana’s case.”
Counter-terrorism officials said earlier this week that there has been a significant increase in referrals since the Southport murders at a children’s dance class in July 2024.
In a report on lessons for Prevent in the wake of the attacks, Independent Prevent Commissioner David Anderson KC said he heard evidence from across the country of a large increase in Prevent referrals in the first quarter of this year following the publicity of Rudakubana’s case.
Of the 8,759 referrals to Prevent where the age of the individual was known, 11 to 15-year-olds accounted for the largest proportion (3,192 or 36%), followed by 16 to 17-year-olds (1,178, or 13%). There were 345 referrals (4% of the total) for children aged 10 or under.