Southport stabbing suspect Axel Rudakubana terror charge 'delayed for TWO WEEKS amid fears of riots'

Kaba's murder in 2022 caused ministers to express concerns that the case, alongside the Southport stabbings, would send a wave of issues within police forces across the nation.

Last Tuesday, Merseyside police confirmed that Rudakubana was charged with a terror offence as well as an offence for the production of the toxic chemical ricin - adding to his previous charges for murder and attempted murder after the stabbing that took place at a Taylor Swift dance class during the summer.

The horrific event triggered a series of violent riots across Britain, leading to over 1,200 people being arrested and almost 800 charged.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) requested permission from the attorney general's office to charge Rudakubana with possessing a biological weapon two weeks before the charge was formally announced at the end of October, the Sunday Times was told.

To make the possession of biological weapons charge, the CPS needed to acquire the consent of two Government law officers, the attorney general and solicitor general - which was provided a week later on October 22.

Then, the CPS was said to have prepared to announce Rudakubana's charges on October 18 - reportedly the same time when around 1,000 police officers were on standby for further rioting.

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They announced the charges another week later on October 29.

This delay has followed Nigel Farage's claim that his five Reform MPs have faced a ban from raising questions surrounding the Southport stabbing suspect in the House of Commons.

In response, the party's leader accused the Prime Minister of using fear to shut down "public debate that he considers inconvenient" after Rudakubana received the terror charge.

He argued that MPs were being silenced by "panicked emails" and telephone calls to not raise the matter in Parliament and, when he wrote to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, he had been informed that such matters could not be raised in the chamber as it involved an ongoing court case.

Farage wrote in The Telegraph: "The day after the three Southport killings, I could see that certain key facts about this atrocity had fallen into a vacuum. This had led to unhelpful online speculation. It struck me as vital for the public to know more.

"I understand the importance of not prejudicing a future trial, but in the current climate there appears to be no room to separate the ongoing legal process from the questions that I posed over the summer. This is deeply troubling."

Starmer issued a warning, saying that MPs "can either support the police in their difficult task or they can undermine the police in their difficult task."

Following the news that Rudakubana had been charged with two further offences, authorities announced that the stabbings were not being treated as an act of terror.