The surge in online violence makes declaring a terrorist incident more difficult than ever

Investigators of the Southport attack, in which three children were killed and 10 other people were injured, say there is no sign of terrorism ‘yet’. Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer

As yet, those with the closest knowledge of the Southport case cannot answer these questions: what cause was Axel Rudakubana trying to advance and who was he trying to influence when he unleashed his atrocity? As such, police cannot declare it a terrorist incident.

The UK primarily combats the threat of terrorist violence through civilian law enforcement bodies governed by laws, not the military or paramilitaries, so there needs to be a legal definition of terrorism.