00:00The deaths of B.B. King, Elsie Dotstankham and Alastair Silva Aguirre have been described as both predictable and preventable
00:09by a public inquiry examining the Southport attack.
00:12The girls were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in June 2024 by 17-year-old Axel Rudakabana.
00:20First, the attack on the 29th of July would not have occurred if AR's parents had reported to the authorities
00:31the full extent of what they knew in late July, including on the day of the attack.
00:37Second, if the relevant agencies, individually and collectively, had properly managed and responded to the known danger that he posed
00:49to others from December 2019 onwards, it is highly likely that this event would not have occurred.
00:59Now the inquiry's first phase has concluded with a stark assessment of what went wrong, its chairman, Sir Adrian Fulford,
01:06identified what he called a culture of responsibility being passed between agencies with no single body taking ownership of the
01:13risk posed.
01:14The attack that led to the death was preventable. There was a serious failure by a number of relevant agencies
01:23over the preceding years to share risk information about the perpetrator, assess the risk he posed and act on that
01:32information in an effective multi-agency way so as to mitigate the risk.
01:38Chris Walker from Bond Turner Solicitors, who represents the families, said the failings extended from parental responsibility through to state
01:46agencies, describing their performance as totally unacceptable.
01:51So there are three layers of concern here. First of all is the legal framework, which is going to form
01:56very much part of phase two of the inquiry.
01:58Second of all, at the more local level, there's the individual failings of the various agencies, which include Prevent, Lancashire
02:05Social Services, Lancashire Police, CAMHS, FCAMS, every one of those agencies, if they'd have done their job properly, the attack
02:12would never have occurred.
02:13There is also the parental responsibility and the failures of the parents to prevent the attack.
02:20He warned he is prepared to identify individuals across five agencies if appropriate disciplinary action is not taken.
02:28We should conclude phase one of this inquiry by focusing our thoughts on the deceased, the other victims and all
02:39their families.
02:40Nicola Ryan Donnelly from Fletchers, representing families of injured children, said the events must never be allowed to happen again.
02:48We move forward to phase two with the hope and expectation that these recommendations will be actioned and that change
02:55will follow.
02:56So that is the legacy that our children deserve.
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