04-08-2025
Police still hunting dozens of Southport rioters a year on
Police are still hunting dozens of suspected rioters a year after disorder broke out across the country in the wake of the Southport murders.
A website is being set up with details of about 40 suspects still wanted across five police forces – Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cleveland, Northumbria and Avon and Somerset.
Disorder spread across the UK in the wake of the Southport killings by Axel Rudakubana last year amid false rumours on social media that the killer was a Muslim migrant.
According to data from the Crown Prosecution Service, 821 defendants out of 859 were convicted by the end of March this year.
This month, multiple protests have been held outside a hotel in Epping where migrants are housed after an asylum-seeker was charged with allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl.
There have been additional protests in Norfolk and London, but so far wider unrest has been avoided.
Asst Chief Constable Ian Drummond-Smith, who led the national response to investigating the riots, said: 'We have a duty to facilitate protest... but what we saw last year, and in a few isolated cases this year, is where it's gone to criminality and to serious disorder.
'In those cases what I think we can learn from last year is that justice will be swift, and I hope that that would be a deterrent to anyone thinking about engaging in serious disorder this year.
'We've made effective use of CCTV, bodyworn video, and we've been able to bring a lot of people in front of the courts.'
The police chief also said officers are working 'very hard' to contain the 'small pockets' of disorder this year.
He said: 'I think they've been isolated because of a swift police response to them, and I think that's the key thing.
'If we can respond to serious disorder swiftly, I think we can contain that and prevent it from spreading across the country, so that's what we're working very hard on.'
Mr Drummond-Smith said that since last year the force has 'sharpened up our ability to mobilise quickly and move resources around the country so we can achieve that quicker'.
Last summer's disturbances, which saw mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers targeted, were denounced at the time as 'far-Right thuggery' by Sir Keir Starmer.
Police chiefs are now launching the national appeal for suspects wanted over 'significant' public order offences from the disorder, including throwing bricks and serious assaults of members of the public.
Local and social media appeals sharing images of the suspects have already been used to try to track them down, but the senior officer said they could have travelled into the area from another part of the country.
Mr Drummond-Smith said: 'One year on, we've still got some people who we have got good images of and we haven't yet identified.
'I think the key thing is having a good image of someone is one thing, knowing who they are is another. We're asking the public to have a look, and if they recognise anyone in those images, to let us know who they are and bring them to justice.'
