The head of the government's Prevent counter-terrorism programme, Michael Stewart, is leaving his position following a damning inquiry that revealed basic failures in the programme's handling of the Southport attack. Stewart had led Prevent since September 2020.
A rapid learning review found that Prevent had misspelt the name of Axel Rudakubana in its database, a factor that may have hampered assessment. Rudakubana's case was closed prematurely despite three referrals for an interest in knives and mass atrocities between December 2019 and April 2021. He later murdered Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, at a dance class in Southport on 29 July last year.
The review also criticised Prevent's handling of Ali Harbi Ali, who murdered MP David Amess. Ali's case was closed after just one coffee meeting at McDonald's, despite concerns about violent Islamism. Another failure involved Jake Davison, who murdered five people in Plymouth in August 2021 after being referred to Prevent.
Calls for an overhaul of Prevent have grown since the Southport murders. A 2023 review by William Shawcross concluded that Prevent was not doing enough to counter non-violent Islamist extremism and had a double standard when dealing with the extreme right wing and Islamism. Kemi Badenoch co-authored a 2015 report expressing concern that the programme alienated communities. The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
