Axel Rudakubana was referred to the Government’s Prevent scheme three times before his attack in Southport.

The killer was first referred to the anti-extremism programme as a 13-year-old schoolboy in 2019, when teachers became concerned by his obsession with school massacres.

It is believed that he was referred to Prevent again twice in 2021 following his expulsion from the Range High School after staff were worried about his interest in the 2017 terror attacks, which included incidents in central London and the Manchester Arena bombing.

However, the referral was not escalated as it was decided that Rudakubana did not hold a terrorist ideology – the same reasoning used by police to justify the failure to charge him with terrorism offences.

The referral emerged after a months-long rumour that the Southport attack was the subject of a Government cover-up.

Rumours began as emergency workers dealt with the carnage at the scene, with several social media accounts spreading inaccurate claims that the attacker was a “Muslim immigrant”.

There were further unsubstantiated reports, some of which came from Russian state media, that he was an asylum seeker named Ali Al-Shakati, who had just arrived in the UK on a small boat.