The Government is now reviewing and updating the Prevent scheme to address a growing trend of children developing obsessions with mass shootings, weaponry and extreme violence, even in cases where no clear political or ideological motivation exists.
The failures of the Prevent scheme were exposed following high profile cases including Southport killer Axel Rudakubana and the murderer of former MP Sir David Amess, Ali Harbi Ali.
Rudakubana, now 18, was referred to Prevent on three separate occasions between 2019 and 2021 due to his interest in terrorist atrocities and school shootings.
Ali was removed “too quickly” from the Prevent programme before he went on to stab Sir David to death in 2021, a review concluded last year.
