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The Southport Inquiry Report, Volume 1 · 2026

Front matter

Section 1 of 44

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The Southport Inquiry Report

Volume 1

13 April 2026

HC 1768-I

Presented to Parliament pursuant to section 26 of the Inquiries Act 2005

Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 13 April 2026

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at www.gov.uk/official-documents

Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at info@southport.public-inquiry.uk

ISBN 978-1-5286-6243-7 E03549332 04/2026

Printed on paper containing 40% recycled fibre content minimum.

Printed in the UK by HH Associates Ltd on behalf of the Controller of His Majesty’s Stationery Office.

Contents Volume 1

Foreword 1

Chapter 1

  • Fundamental problems — 4

  • Introduction — 5

  • A failure of any organisation or multi-agency arrangement to take ownership of the risk that AR posed — 5

  • Poor information management and sharing — 9

  • Excusing AR's behaviour on the basis of his perceived or diagnosed autism spectrum disorder — 11

  • Failure to oversee and intervene in AR's online behaviour — 13

  • The role of AR's parents — 15

  • Consequences — 17

  • Recommendations — 18

Chapter 2

  • Overview chronology — 22

Chapter 3

  • The victims and the impact of the attack — 74

  • Introduction — 75

  • Elsie Dot Stancombe — 76

  • Alice da Silva Aguiar — 78

  • Bebe King — 80

  • Child C1 — 82

  • Child C2 and Child C7 — 83

  • Child C3 — 84

  • Child C4 — 85

  • Child C5 — 86

  • Child C6 — 87

  • Child C8 — 88

  • Leanne Lucas — 89

  • Jonathan Hayes — 90

  • Heidi Liddle — 91

  • Child J — 92

  • Child S — 92

  • Child K — 92

  • Child L — 93

  • Child M — 94

  • Child N — 95

  • Child O — 96

  • Child P — 97

  • Child Q — 98

  • Child R — 99

  • Child C6 and Child T — 100

  • Child U — 101

  • Child V and Child W — 102

  • Child X — 103

  • Other psychological victims — 103

Chapter 4

  • The attack — 104

  • Introduction — 105

  • AR's knowledge of the dance and yoga class — 106

  • 29 July 2024: the events before the attack started — 107

  • The attack within the upstairs studio and communal staircase — 119

  • The immediate aftermath: the victims who had been in the Hart Space — 119

  • The immediate aftermath: the staff in the Calculus Office and the injury inflicted to Mr Hayes as he sought to assist — 122

  • Members of the public respond: an example of bad meeting good — 124

  • AR's arrest — 127

  • The taxi driver's conduct in failing to call the police — 129

  • The Merseyside Police response — 135

  • The North West Ambulance Service response — 142

  • The arrangements including security at the Hart Space — 146

  • Conclusions and recommendations concerning the immediate circumstances of the attack — 158

Chapter 5

  • Weapons and poisons — 171

  • Introduction — 172

  • AR's Amazon usage — 173

  • AR's purchase of castor beans, associated chemical equipment and production of a crude preparation of ricin — 178

  • Archery equipment (conventional bows and crossbows) — 183

AR's history of purchasing and attempting to purchase archery equipment 184

  • Knives and machetes — 194

  • AR's purchase of three machetes — 199

  • Knives — 224

  • The location of certain suspect items — 231

  • Recommendations — 232

Chapter 6

  • Online harms — 240

  • Introduction — 241

  • The absence of parental control — 245

  • AR's online activity at school — 246

AR's online activity: involvement of the police, Prevent and

  • The Acorns School — 247

  • Oversight of AR's online activity by Lancashire County Council — 248

  • Checks on social media use for children — 250

  • X's approach to the video of the Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel stabbing — 253

  • X's co-operation with the Inquiry — 257

  • Recommendations — 258

This report is presented in two volumes.

Volume 1 focuses on the events and consequences of the attack.

Volume 2 examines the roles and actions of the agencies involved.

Both volumes should be read together for a complete understanding of the issues addressed.

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