Boss of UK Prevent anti-extremism unit quits over Taylor Swift dance class murders
The head of Britain’s Prevent antiterrorism programme has resigned following the agency’s failings over the Southport stabbing spree last year.
Michael Stewart left his post after a report commissioned soon after Axel Rudakubana killed three girls and injured eight others at a Taylor Swift-inspired dance class found that Prevent had “prematurely” dismissed the threat posed by him on each of the three occasions he was referred by teachers to the programme between 2019 and 2021.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer highlighted systematic failures over the handling of Rudakubana’s Prevent referral for concerns about his obsession with violence but was never recommended for further intervention.
He made clear that the failure of state institutions “frankly leaps off the page”.
The Prevent team had further been criticised over allegations it had underplayed the threats posed by Islamic extremists.
Rudakubana, 18, who was born in Wales to Rwandan parents, was jailed for 52 years after admitting three murders, 10 attempted murders and possessing the poison ricin and a terrorist manual.
He made clear that the failure of state institutions “frankly leaps off the page”.
The Prevent team had further been criticised over allegations it had underplayed the threats posed by Islamic extremists.
Experts have also told The National that much of the government's approach to deradicalisation in its Prevent programme needs to rapidly change to deal with the rise of the new extremism.
The organisation was “underfunded and likely out of date”, and, along with the law, had to be “brought into the 21st century,” said Gareth Westwood, of the Sibylline intelligence company.
Furthermore, Jonathan Hall, the UK government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, stated that Prevent was too focused on people with extreme ideologies, rather than those “obsessed by violence”.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/uk/2025/03/28/boss-of-uk-prevent-anti-extremism-unit-quits-over-taylor-swift-dance-class-murders/