Southport inquiry to examine ‘wholesale failure’ to prevent attack

Floral tributes left after the Southport attack last July. The chair of an inquiry into the outrage, Sir Adrian Fulford, promises it will be a ‘real engine for change’. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

The inquiry into the Southport attack will examine the “wholesale failure” of multiple institutions to prevent “one of the most egregious crimes in our country’s history”, its chair has said in his opening remarks.

Sir Adrian Fulford said the murder of three girls appeared “far from being an unforeseeable catastrophic event” given Axel Rudakubana’s well-known obsession with extreme violence.