An official review has found that the Prevent counter-terrorism scheme missed opportunities to stop the killers of Sir David Amess and the Southport dance class attacker. David Anderson, interim independent reviewer of Prevent, identified a long string of failings in both cases, with mentoring and risk assessments falling short of what was planned.
Sir David Amess was stabbed to death by Ali Harbi Ali in October 2021. Ali had been referred to Prevent in 2014, aged 18, and was handled by the Channel programme, which deals with the highest-risk referrals. A mentor was meant to meet him seven times, but only one meeting took place, at a McDonald's in Croydon, south London. The review notes that most failures were due to poor judgment, poor communication and lack of follow-through.
Sir David's family has called for a full public inquiry, saying the case should be properly explained and accountability established. The government has so far declined the request.
The review also examines the case of Axel Rudakubana, who murdered three young girls at a dance class in Southport. Teachers repeatedly raised concerns between 2019 and 2021, including Rudakubana's admission that he had brought a knife to school to stab someone, his research into US school massacres and his praise for the Manchester Arena attack. Prevent declined to take on the case three times. One expert concluded it should have been examined by Channel, but this did not happen. Anderson said that, had it happened, Rudakubana might have been offered a mentor who could have made a difference.
The report recommends a potential expansion of Prevent to include individuals with no fixed ideology but a fascination with extreme violence or mass-casualty attacks. It also suggests Prevent could function better if formally connected to a broader safeguarding and violence prevention system, with a Cabinet Office task force set up to explore the idea.
