It was laborious to think about a extra unlikely place for horror to unfold than a neighborhood centre holding a Taylor Swift-themed dance class within the sleepy seaside city of Southport. So when three little women have been murdered and eight different kids and two adults viciously stabbed by a 17-year-old boy, it appeared incomprehensible. However earlier than the shock might put on off, misinformation and lies about who had unleashed this distress started to unfold. The outcome was days of racist riots and violence.

Josh Halliday, the Guardian’s North of England editor, lined the assaults, the riots and now the court docket case of Axel Rudakubana as he was sentenced to 52 years in jail. On Monday, because the jury was anticipated to be sworn in, the now 18-year-old Rudakubana shocked everybody by pleading responsible to all the costs he was confronted with. And this week the decide gave him a life sentence.

However whereas the case was minimize quick, one factor was very clear – the repeated and worrying failures to cease this harmful and troubled younger man from hurting others. Josh describes Rudakubana’s historical past of violence, how he took knives to highschool and on public transport, and even referred to as Childline to inform them he wished to kill somebody; how he was referred to the federal government’s anti-radicalisation programme, Forestall, 3 times – and the way his personal dad and mom repeatedly referred to as the police due to their worries over his horrifying behaviour. Now Helen Pidd hears how the federal government has introduced they’re launching a public inquiry, a overview of Forestall, and are even considering of fixing the definition of terrorism.