Speculating On Southport Trial Risks Seeing Case Thrown Out, Warns Town’s MP
3 min read
Speculating on the investigation into the Southport murders risks seeing the case thrown out, the MP for the town has warned.
In July, three girls – Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven – were killed at a dance class at the Hart Space community centre in Southport.
Axel Rudakubana, then aged 17, was arrested shortly after the attack. He is due to stand trial in January at Liverpool Crown Court.
Following the arrest, false claims circulated online that Rudakubana was an asylum seeker or illegal immigrant. Merseyside Police later clarified that the 17-year-old they’d arrested had been born in Cardiff.
Under the Contempt of Court Act 1981, it is illegal to publish material which risks prejudicing a trial when a case is active. Judges have previously thrown out court cases before reaching a verdict, after defence lawyers proved public speculation about the suspect may have prejudiced the jury.
Writing in The House magazine, Southport’s Labour MP Patrick Hurley said: “I urge everyone to stop the speculation, avoid spreading rumours, and allow justice to take its course.
“As we begin to move to the next step of recovery, ensuring the integrity of the criminal justice system and the forthcoming trial is of paramount importance.
"It is in no one's interest to jeopardise an ongoing investigation with rumours and conspiracy theories on the internet. All these comments do is risk prejudicing the trial and risk seeing justice denied.”
Rudakubana’s identity was initially protected by anonymity laws following his arrest. However, a false name was subsequently circulated online, alongside claims the suspect had arrived illegally in the UK in 2023, sparking far-right protests across the UK.
Hurley wrote: “The targeting of a place of worship in my constituency, a newly renovated children’s library in Liverpool, and an attack on a Citizens’ Advice Bureau in Sunderland all highlight the dangers of social media and speculation around this case.
“If these levels of rumour and hearsay continue to spread the chances of hindering the trial become more likely, which could shatter any steps towards recovery that our community has begun to make.”
In October, Rudakubana appeared in court charged with further offences of producing a biological toxin and possessing a document likely to be useful in terrorism. This fuelled more speculation online that the police, and government, had knowingly withheld this information from the public.
Robert Jenrick, running in the Conservative Party leadership election at the time, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that “the state should not be lying to its own citizens”.
His opponent in the race Kemi Badenoch, now leader of the opposition, said that there were “serious questions to be asked” of the police, the Crown Prosecution Service "and also of Keir Starmer’s response".
Indirectly reacting to these comments, Hurley wrote that he finds it “highly irresponsible for politicians to imply untruths”. He added that the police officers who “had bricks thrown at them based on inflammatory online speculation” and who “stepped in to try to protect and save children’s lives” were the “same officers who are denied the right of reply to senior politicians”.
Pleas of not guilty have been entered on behalf of Rudakubana after he refused to speak in court. He is due to stand trial on 20 January.
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