Cops today vowed to find those who wreaked havoc across the UK after evil Axel Rudakubana launched his terrifying attack that killed three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last year
Dozens of mindless thugs who rioted in the wake of the Southport stabbings are still wanted by police a year after disorder broke out across the UK.
Police determination to track down those involved is a warning to troublemakers not to repeat the unrest this year, a police body said. A website is being set up with details of around 40 suspects still wanted across five police forces – Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cleveland, Northumbria and Avon and Somerset.
Disorder spread across the UK after Axel Rudakubana, 18, murdered three girls in Southport at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last year, amid false rumours the killer was a Muslim immigrant. The unrest led to a total of 1,876 people being arrested, with 1,110 charged so far, the National Police Chiefs’ Council said.
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According to the Crown Prosecution Service, its data tracking cases related to the disorder shows 821 defendants out of 859 were convicted by the end of March this year. This month, multiple protests have been held outside a hotel in Epping where migrants are housed after an asylum-seeker was charged with allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl.
There have been additional protests in Norfolk and London, but so far wider unrest has been avoided. Assistant Chief Const Ian Drummond-Smith, who led the national response to investigating the riots, said: “We have a duty to facilitate protest … but what we saw last year, and in a few isolated cases this year, is where it’s gone to criminality and to serious disorder.
“In those cases what I think we can learn from last year is that justice will be swift, and I hope that that would be a deterrent to anyone thinking about engaging in serious disorder this year. We’ve made effective use of CCTV, body worn video, and we’ve been able to bring a lot of people in front of the courts.”
The police chief also said officers are working “very hard” to contain the “small pockets” of disorder this year. He said: “I think they’ve been isolated because of a swift police response to them, and I think that’s the key thing. If we can respond to serious disorder swiftly, I think we can contain that and prevent it from spreading across the country, so that’s what we’re working very hard on.”
Since last year, Mr Drummond-Smith added: “We’ve sharpened up our ability to mobilise quickly and move resources around the country so we can achieve that quicker.”
Last summer’s disturbances, which saw mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers targeted, were denounced at the time as “far-right thuggery” by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Police chiefs are now launching the national appeal for suspects wanted over “significant” public order offences from the disorder, including throwing bricks and serious assaults of members of the public.
Local and social media appeals sharing images of the suspects have already been used to try to track them down, but the senior officer said they could have travelled into the area from another part of the country. Mr Drummond-Smith said: “One year on, we’ve still got some people who we have got good images of and we haven’t yet identified.
“I think the key thing is having a good image of someone is one thing, knowing who they are is another. We’re asking the public to have a look, and if they recognise anyone in those images, to let us know who they are and bring them to justice.”
To view the website go to police.uk/disorder-appeal.