A knife attack in the UK that killed three girls at Taylor Swift’s dance class could have been prevented, an inquest has found.

London – Nearly two years after three teenage girls were stabbed to death in one of the most shocking acts of violence in recent British history, the head of a public inquiry into the attack said it “could, and should, have been prevented.”

Six-year-old Bebe King, 7-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and 9-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar were killed on July 29, 2024, when Axel Rudakubana, 17, attacked with a sharp knife at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in the city of. Southportnorth west England. Ten other people were injured in the attack.

An additional sixteen people, many of them children, continue to suffer severe psychological trauma.

A day after the attack, with false rumors spreading on social media – and amplified by far-right figures – that Rudakubana was a Muslim and entered the UK by crossing the English Channel in a small boat, violent disturbances broke out in cities across the country.

For six days, anti-immigration riots – which included racist attacks, arson and looting – swept the country, as Southport became a proverbial symbol of immigration, integration and nationalism in the UK.

By July 2025, a year after the unrest, the police had arrested 1,840 people, and more than 1,100 charges had been laid.

The inquest, which heard evidence over nine weeks, was designed to examine how the teenager, who was known to a number of community agencies – including the police, social services, education and health care – was able to carry out the attack.

The head of the investigation, Sir Adrian Fulford, wrote in his report, published on Monday, that the path of the attacker “to the terrible violence is documented repeatedly and clearly” but that those organizations failed to act “with the coherence, urgency or clarity required.”

He accused the agencies of “repeatedly shifting the risk to others and shutting down or minimizing their involvement,” adding: “This failure is at the heart of why [Rudakubana] managed to attack, despite many warning signs.”

“This attack could – and should – have been prevented,” he concluded.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the inquiry’s findings “shocking” on Monday and promised to make “significant changes.”

“No danger to others”

Since the beginning of 2019, Rudakubana – who was born in Cardiff, Wales, to Rwandan parents – was in contact with the authorities. He was repeatedly referred to Prevent, the UK’s counter-extremism programme, after concerns about his handling of violence, including school shootings and attacks that left many people injured.

But the inquiry found a lack of clarity about how Prevent should treat people like him – those who love violence but have no fixed views – and concluded it was “the wrong decision” not to take further action in his case.

One of the most notable examples of failure came a few days before the attack. Rudakubana has been under the care of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services for five years. But in a report published six days before the execution, doctors concluded that he “does not pose a danger to others.”

The investigation also highlighted repeated failures in information sharing between government agencies, with risk information “lost or diluted over time,” between and within agencies.

As a result, growing warning signs were ignored, and opportunities to intervene were missed.

The report also criticizes the attacker’s family, saying they have “created major obstacles to constructive engagement” with the authorities.

Fulford writes that if the “full extent” of the family’s concerns had been shared — including in the days before the attack — “it is almost certain that this tragedy could have been prevented.”

The investigation describes a pattern in which parents minimized or defended their son’s behavior, including incidents where he brought a knife to school multiple times and attacked violently with a hockey stick.

It also points to a failure to monitor or intervene in his work online, where his interest in violence has continued to grow.

Among the things later found in his mission were al Qaeda training manuals, anti-Muslim and antisemitic materials and documents on many conflicts, including the Rwandan genocide.

Rudakubana is currently serving a 15-month prison term of at least 52 years after pleading guilty to three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and terrorism-related charges.

“Enjoyment of violence”

The case has raised urgent questions about how authorities should respond to people who are at risk of serious violence but have not yet committed a crime that meets the threshold for arrest.

Increasing the state’s ability to intervene early could prevent future attacks, but critics warn that early restrictions risk undermining civil liberties — especially when applied to young people.

It is expected that this issue will be the core of the second phase of the investigation, which will examine why a growing number of young people are drawn to extreme violence without a clear framework of ideas.

David Anderson, Prevent UK’s independent commissioner, told CBS News that the nature of the threat is changing, especially among young people.

“It used to be Muslim and, to some extent, extreme right-wing people being transferred to Prevent,” he said. “Increasingly, what we’re seeing – especially among very young people – are people who have taken on more extreme views online.”

“They don’t really follow any theories or conspiracy theories,” he added, “but they are interested in violence, school shootings and mass murders, whoever is doing it.”