The decision not to classify Axel Rudakubana as a terrorist following the Southport murders was right because it would be unhelpful to stretch the definition of terrorism to cover all extreme violence, the UK’s terror watchdog has concluded.
Jonathan Hall KC wrote that the “legal definition of terrorism is already wide and should not be changed any further” in his post-Southport review of how extreme violence is legally classified. Expanding the definition would “increase the possibility of inaccurate use and, in theory, abuse”, he said.
