Reform UK leader Nigel Farage (Image: Getty)
repeated claims of a “cover up” over the Southport killings after Sir addressed the nation this morning.
The Prime Minister said he knew attacker Axel Rudakubana had previously been referred to the Prevent counter-extremism programme but that the information was not made public due to fears it could prejudice a potential trial.
The Reform UK leader said: “The Prime Minister is once again hiding behind the contempt of court argument.
“This is simply untrue, the country needed to know the truth about this murderer and that he was known to the authorities.
“Even MPs were banned from asking questions about this man’s background. Cover up Keir convinces no one.”
The Prime Minister speaks at a Downing Street press conference (Image: Getty)
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Asked if he knew about the Prevent referrals and if he had withheld the information from the public at the time amid riots, Sir Keir told the press conference: “Let me be clear, responsibility for the disorder and the violence lies with those that perpetrated it. We need to be really clear about that.
“Let me address the facts as you put them to me. There has been a failure here and I don’t intend to let any institution of the state deflect from their failures and I acknowledge that readily here.
“Yes, I knew the details as they were emerging. That is the usual practice in a case such as this. But you know and I know that it would not have been right to disclose those details.
“The only losers if the details had been disclosed would be the victims and the families because it ran the risk the trial would collapse. I am never going to do that.”
Rudakubana, 18, yesterday pleaded guilty to murdering three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside, in July.
Despite contact with state agencies such as Prevent, aimed at countering terrorism, authorities failed to stop the attack which claimed the lives of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced an inquiry into the case on Monday evening.