Last week, after a long wait, the country learnt more about Axel Rudakubana, the man charged with the murder of three little girls at a children’s dance class in Southport last summer and injuring 10 others. On Tuesday – exactly three months after the knife attack took place – Merseyside Police filed two additional charges against the now 18-year-old: production of the deadly poison ricin and possessing terrorist material, a PDF file entitled ‘Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual’. The CPS had been ready to bring the charges two weeks earlier on October 15th, the Sunday Times reports, but the Attorney General’s office only gave them permission on October 22nd (for certain serious offences, the CPS needs the Government’s consent to bring charges). The CPS has declined to comment on the reason for the subsequent delay of another week before the charges were brought.
With significant public concern about the Southport attack, many are wondering when the Government first became aware of these additional facts about Rudakubana. Very likely, it was more-or-less straight away. “It is not plausible,” former Home Secretary Priti Patel said last week, “for the police, Home Secretary, Prime Minister not to have known about the suspect’s background until this week. This detail would have materialised within two-to-three days of such a devastating and serious incident with the entire security apparatus focusing on finding answers to key questions.”
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