Just before midday on July 29th, a masked man armed with a knife walked into a sold-out Taylor Swift-themed dance class for 6–11-year-olds in Southport, Merseyside. He went on a bloody rampage described as being “beyond the worst nightmare of any parent,” and “like a scene from a horror movie.”
Three children have died and five other youngsters are in a critical condition. Three other children were also injured and two adults—who are reported to have bravely tried to intervene—are in critical condition.
Social media was soon awash with speculation about the attacker. Steven Barrett, a barrister who often writes for The Spectator, claims to have been informed by a police officer that “what we are being told about the Southport stabbings is being managed.”
The reappearance of the #EnoughIsEnough hashtag on social media indicates widespread unease with the limited information on the attacker made available by the authorities. Not unlike previous disclosures of ‘mental health’ as an explanation of motive, police use of the phrase “not terror related” now prompts widespread scepticism. Too often, it can look as if the truth is being sacrificed on the altar of ‘good community relations.’
Formally, the selective silence will largely be because the attacker, according to Merseyside Police, is 17 years old. Under British law, the youth cannot be named at this time for legal reasons. Former Metropolitan Police detective Peter Bleksley said this morning that “a full picture will probably not be painted until such time as this person stands trial and is convicted. Perhaps only then will we get chapter and verse on this very short life.”
The authorities have also described the attacker as being from Banks in Lancashire, and said that he was “born in” (or was “originally from”) Cardiff, Wales. The Daily Telegraph reported that he moved to the Southport area with his Rwandan parents—who other papers say “escaped the Rwandan genocide and came to the UK”—when he was six. Talk TV refers to him as the “son of Rwandan immigrants.”
Former Tory and later UKIP MP Douglas Carswell also said it is “quite something that I don’t feel I can trust the BBC and other established media sources [for information about the attack] since they suppress—presumably with state collusion—details that don’t fit the narrative.”
Merseyside Police are appealing for any information relating to the case. They say that “the incident is not currently being treated as terror-related and we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.”
The horrific act of violence has absolutely captured the national attention, featuring on the front page of every newspaper today and warranting a message from King Charles III.
