Starmer hints at tougher laws as he brands Axel Rudakubana 'a two-click killer'
Sir Keir Starmer condemned the "tidal wave of violence" on the internet as he alluded to a law change in the wake of Axel Rudakubana's sickening murders in Southport, Merseyside
Sir Keir Starmer condemned the "tidal wave of violence" on the internet as he alluded to a law change in the wake of Axel Rudakubana's sickening murders in Southport, MerseysideSir Keir Starmer delivers a statement at 10 Downing Street on Tuesday (
Image: PA)
Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to urgently change the law to tackle the "nightmares of the online world" in the wake of Axel Rudakubana's murders.
The defiant Prime Minister called Rudakubana "a two-click killer" after the teenager was able to order two survival knives to his home — a fortnight before killing three children and injuring ten more at a Taylor Swift dance workshop last July 29.
Rudakubana also made two attempts to purchase a £4, 20cm-long kitchen knife in the month before his atrocity. He used security software to hide his identity. A similar knife to the one he used to kill costs just £1.70.
Speaking on Tuesday, the PM said: "Time and again, he showed clear intent to use them (the weapons), and yet tragically, he was still able to order the murder weapon off of the internet without any checks or barriers. A two-click killer. This cannot continue."
It also emerged the killer trawled the internet for extreme violent content before the Southport atrocity, utilising a "tidal wave of violence" on the web.
Axel Rudakubana has admitted all charges (Image:
Liverpool Echo)But Mr Starmer, who was Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013, said the teenager represented a new kind of threat, distinct from politically or ideologically motivated terrorism, with "acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom, accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety".
At a Downing Street press conference, he added: "To face up to this new threat there are also bigger questions. Questions such as how we protect our children from the tidal wave of violence freely available online.
"Because you can't tell me that the material this individual viewed before committing these murders should be accessible on mainstream social media platforms. That with just a few clicks, people can watch video after horrific video. Videos that in some cases are never taken down. No - that cannot be right."
Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar were killed in the Southport attack (Image:
PA)The Sun reports Rudakubana also bought equipment to make the poison ricin on Amazon in 2022, two years before his attack. He exploited limited checks allowing blades to be sent without ID, reportedly amassing a cache of weapons including knives, machetes and arrows, and admitted carrying a blade more than ten times.
The teen admitted three charges of murder on Monday, in addition to possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism. He will be sentenced on Thursday.
Mr Starmer, though, now intends to introduce two-step verification for all knife web purchases, it is believed. Companies will be required by law to forbid sale without a digital scan of a passport or driving licence as well as a live selfie video to verify the buyer is the ID holder.
Writing in The Sun, the PM said: "Time and again, as a child, the Southport murderer carried knives." Patrick Green, of anti-knife crime charity The Ben Kinsella Trust, told the same publication: "The unregulated sale of knives on online platforms like Amazon is endangering countless lives. We need urgent reform."
Amazon told the publication: “We take our responsibility around the sale of all age-restricted items — including bladed products — extremely seriously and have launched an urgent investigation in relation to this tragic case.”
Its spokesperson said ID checks are made whenever an order is placed, and when its drivers hand over a parcel containing an age- restricted item. They added: “The product in question was subject to age verification checks on delivery.”
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