Prevent boss leaves role after Southport failings

The head of the Prevent counter-terrorism scheme, Michael Stewart, has left his role.

It follows a damning review in February that found the scheme "prematurely" closed its case on Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana three years before he went on to murder three children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

Rudakubana was referred to Prevent three times between 2019 and 2021 due to his interest in terrorist attacks and school shootings, but there was no evidence of a fixed ideology or motivation.

The Home Office would not comment when approached by the BBC.

On Friday, Southport's Labour MP Patrick Hurley said he was "pleased" about the head of Prevent's departure after "evident failures" had come to light.

He said it was "right" for the government to get to grips with the situation "so quickly", adding he expects to see improvements to the scheme soon.

In July last year, Rudakubana stabbed 11 children and two adults, killing nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and six-year-old Bebe King.

He was jailed in January for a minimum of 52 years after admitting the three murders, the attempted murders of the other children and the adults, production of ricin, possession of an al-Qaeda training manual and possession of a knife.

Mr Stewart's departure was first reported by the Times on Friday. He had been in post as Prevent's director for more than four years.

An urgent Prevent learning review, which was published last month, found counter-terrorism officers staffing the scheme had "sufficient information" to escalate Rudakubana's case to the next stage - known as Channel - which would have included enhanced monitoring.

The review also said that while officers at Prevent had shown a "high level of compliance" with policies in place at the time, it criticised the focus on Rudakubana's ideology.

Speaking after the urgent review was published, Security Minister Dan Jarvis MP told the House of Commons: "The review concluded that too much focus was placed on the absence of a distinct ideology, to the detriment of considering the perpetrator's susceptibility, grievances and complex needs."

In a separate Prevent learning review published in February, the government found that Ali Harbi Ali - who murdered Southend West MP Sir David Amess at a constituency surgery in October 2021 - was exited from the scheme too quickly.

The review found that Prevent's handling of Ali was "sub-optimal", and there were blurred responsibilities between police and local authorities.

Ali was referred to Prevent by his school in 2014 but was exited from the scheme in April 2015 because his terrorism risk was deemed to be low.

Earlier this month, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper rejected calls from Sir David's family for a public inquiry into his murder, saying it was "hard to see how an inquiry would be able to go beyond" the learning review.

Prevent is a key part of the UK's counter-terrorism strategy. It aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism.

The scheme places public bodies - including schools and the police - under a legal duty to identify people who may turn to extremism, and intervene in their lives before it is too late.

In the year to March 2024, there were 6,922 referrals to the scheme, an increase of 1.5% compared to the previous year. Of those, 893 people - 13% of referrals - were discussed at Channel stage.

Anyone can contact the police or a local authority to make a Prevent referral, which usually involves filling out a form to explain a concern about someone deemed to be at risk of radicalisation.