Richard Tice fumes ‘we’re facing the mother of all cover-ups’ as Labour makes Axel Rudakubana decision

"There's an extraordinary list of questions and coincidences. People want answers," said Tice, responding to the Home Secretary's announcement of the inquiry.

Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty today at Liverpool Crown Court to murdering three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died in the attack at The Hart Space on July 29.

He also admitted the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults, as well as the production of ricin and possession of an Al Qaeda training document.

The court heard Rudakubana had been referred to counter-terrorism police specialists three times between December 2019 and April 2021, when he was aged 13 and 14.

Lancashire Child Safeguarding Partnership revealed he had received "ongoing support" after experiencing increased anxiety and social isolation.

He was excluded from Range High School in Formby after telling Childline he was bringing a knife to school, and later assaulted someone with a hockey stick when he returned to the premises.

Multiple agencies including police, social services and mental health services had contact with Rudakubana before the attack.

"It is inconceivable that they did not know within a couple of hours that this guy was a proper wrong'un," Tice added in his GB News appearance.

The Reform UK MP criticised the timing of the inquiry announcement, suggesting it was being used to "kick the can down the road".

"We can have an inquiry now, but we can't have one for the child rape gangs because it doesn't suit the Labour Party," he said.

"Once again, it feels like one rule for them and forget the rest of the British public."

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the public inquiry will investigate how Rudakubana "came to be so dangerous" and why the Prevent programme "failed to identify the terrible risk" he posed.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said there were "grave questions" to answer about how the state failed the victims.

The inquiry will have statutory powers to summon witnesses to give evidence under oath and compel the production of documents.

The Home Office has also commissioned an urgent Prevent Learning Review into the three referrals that were closed.