A PUBLIC inquiry found today that the Southport attack, where three young girls were murdered at a children’s dance class, “could and should have been prevented.”

The report found that Southport killer Axel Rudakubana had “clearly revealed” he was an extreme danger.

Nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were murdered on July 29, 2024.

Inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford said the teenager could have been stopped if his parents had “done what they morally ought to have done.”

Rudakubana, then 17, also attempted to murder eight other children, as well as class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

Sir Adrian also said there was a “fundamental failure” by any organisation, or multi-agency arrangement, to take ownership of the risk Rudakubana posed.

Solicitor Nicola Ryan-Donnelly, representing the children injured in the attack, said: “We ask that where recommendations have been made, those individuals and agencies to which they are addressed, take action, now.”