The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper has announced that the first phase of the Southport Inquiry will start today.

The Home Secretary previously announced in January 2025 that an inquiry would be launched following the conviction of the perpetrator of the 2024 Southport attack, to examine what went wrong in this horrific case and how services should respond to fixated youth violence.

Sir Adrian Fulford has been appointed as the chair following consultation with the victims and families of those killed or affected by the attacks and plans to travel to meet them as a first priority.

This follows the Prime Minister’s commitment to leave no stone unturned in uncovering how this attack happened and to not let any institution of the state deflect from their failure.

Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper said:

The brutal murder of three young girls: Bebe, Elsie and Alice in Southport was an unimaginable tragedy – we owe it to their families, and all those affected on that terrible day to quickly understand what went wrong, answer difficult questions and do everything in our power to prevent something like this from happening again.

The Southport Inquiry will provide insights into any failings that allowed a young man with a previous history of violence, to commit this horrendous attack. 

Sir Adrian Fulford will bring a wealth of legal and criminal justice expertise to this role, and I am pleased he has agreed to chair the inquiry.

The inquiry will be statutory. This follows representations made by families and victims of the attack and means the Inquiry has all the necessary legal powers to receive evidence and hear witness testimony effectively.

It will take place in 2 phases. The first will thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack and the events leading up to it. This will include examining an overall timeline of the perpetrator’s history and interactions with various public bodies including criminal justice, education, social care, and healthcare, as well as decision-making and information-sharing by local services and agencies.

The second is expected to examine the wider issues of children and young people being drawn into extreme violence.

Sir Adrian Fulford will bring an impartial and extensive legal background, particularly on issues relating to policing and the criminal justice system.

He is a retired Lord Justice of Appeal and former judge of the International Criminal Court 2003 to 2012. Previously, he was the Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) in 2019 and was the first Investigatory Powers Commissioner between 2017 to 2019.