Watch: Keir Starmer holds Downing Street press conference as inquiry announced into Southport killings

Watch again as Sir Keir Starmer held aDowning Street press conference on Tuesday (20 January) as a public inquiry was announced into the Southport killings.

The prime minister announced a public inquiry will be held into the murders of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport by 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana “that can get to the truth about what happened and what needs to change”.

The announcement came after it emerged Rudakubana was referred to an anti-extremism programme three times before he carried out the murders, and endangered his former teachers and peers.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed the 18-year-old had “contact with a range of different state agencies throughout his teenage years” before carrying out his “meticulously planned rampage” at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

Axel Rudakubana, of Banks, Lancashire, pleaded guilty to 16 offences, including three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, as well as producing the deadly poison ricin and possessing an al-Qaueda training manual.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died following the knife attack at the Taylor Swift-themed class in The Hart Space on a small business park in the seaside town shortly before midday on 29 July.