A UK Barrister has said the law "should be changed" on handing life sentences to those under 18, as Axel Rudakubana is set to avoid a whole life sentence for the Southport attack.
Speaking to GB News, Steven Barrett said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer "should have used his majority" in Parliament to change the law ahead of Rudakubana's sentencing.
The Southport triple-killer will be sentenced today at Liverpool Crown Court - but while his crimes could warrant a whole life order, this cannot be applied as he was 17 at the time of the offences.
A minimum term will be instead set by the judge before he can be considered for release.
Admitting that the case is "rare" for such a law to be changed, Barrett told GB News that the Labour Government could have "taken action" to avoid Rudakubana avoiding the full hand of justice.
Barrett fumed: "I would have liked my country and my Prime Minister to have taken action to avoid that. But that's where we are.
"The Prime Minister will talk about votes for 16 year olds, but the idea that they might be liable for their criminal actions, apparently there has to be a gap between that. And I think we as a country need to look at this."
Expressing his outrage at the Southport attack and the apparent failings of the Prevent scheme which allowed Rudakubana to "slip through the net", Barrett declared that the July 2024 killings were "evil", and the details of the incident are "horrific".
Barrett said: "I just want to be absolutely unequivocal. This is evil. What we're going to discover and the details that are going to come out are horrific.
"He didn't just murder three beautiful, innocent children. He stabbed ten other people grotesquely, and he traumatised everybody who wasn't stabbed."
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When pressed by host Miriam Cates on Keir Starmer's defence of the "information vacuum" following the attack, Barrett claimed that the country "doesn't have an honest Prime Minister".
He stated: "I don't believe the Prime Minister, to be honest, that claim doesn't stack up on any level. He says he couldn't have told us in August that it was terrorism, and then he tells us in October that it's terrorism - he knew back then.
"I'm afraid the only conclusion that a rational person can draw is that we don't have an honest Prime Minister."
Barrett added: "In the grand scheme of things, he's [Rudakubana] avoiding a whole life tariff because of ten days. That seems to me a technicality."
Praising the "bravery" of Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, who were two adults stabbed in defence of the children in the Southport attack, Barrett called for the "heroes" to be honoured, following the sentencing.
Barrett concluded: "I think the two of them are absolute heroes, and we as a country should do something for Leanne and John. We should honour them, we should make them knights and dames.
"Rudakubana represents absolute evil, and they represent good. They are heroes in our society and we are lucky to have them."
Starmer has defended his position on withholding information about the Southport killer. The Prime Minister insisted he was following "the law of the land" to prevent the case against Rudakubana from collapsing.
"You know and I know that it would not have been right to disclose those details," Starmer told reporters. "The only losers if the details had been disclosed would be the victims and the families because it ran the risk the trial would collapse."
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Speaking to GB News, Steven Barrett said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer "should have used his majority" in Parliament to change the law ahead of Rudakubana's sentencing.
The Southport triple-killer will be sentenced today at Liverpool Crown Court - but while his crimes could warrant a whole life order, this cannot be applied as he was 17 at the time of the offences.
A minimum term will be instead set by the judge before he can be considered for release.
Admitting that the case is "rare" for such a law to be changed, Barrett told GB News that the Labour Government could have "taken action" to avoid Rudakubana avoiding the full hand of justice.
Barrett fumed: "I would have liked my country and my Prime Minister to have taken action to avoid that. But that's where we are.
"The Prime Minister will talk about votes for 16 year olds, but the idea that they might be liable for their criminal actions, apparently there has to be a gap between that. And I think we as a country need to look at this."
Expressing his outrage at the Southport attack and the apparent failings of the Prevent scheme which allowed Rudakubana to "slip through the net", Barrett declared that the July 2024 killings were "evil", and the details of the incident are "horrific".
Barrett said: "I just want to be absolutely unequivocal. This is evil. What we're going to discover and the details that are going to come out are horrific.
"He didn't just murder three beautiful, innocent children. He stabbed ten other people grotesquely, and he traumatised everybody who wasn't stabbed."
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When pressed by host Miriam Cates on Keir Starmer's defence of the "information vacuum" following the attack, Barrett claimed that the country "doesn't have an honest Prime Minister".
He stated: "I don't believe the Prime Minister, to be honest, that claim doesn't stack up on any level. He says he couldn't have told us in August that it was terrorism, and then he tells us in October that it's terrorism - he knew back then.
"I'm afraid the only conclusion that a rational person can draw is that we don't have an honest Prime Minister."
Barrett added: "In the grand scheme of things, he's [Rudakubana] avoiding a whole life tariff because of ten days. That seems to me a technicality."
Praising the "bravery" of Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, who were two adults stabbed in defence of the children in the Southport attack, Barrett called for the "heroes" to be honoured, following the sentencing.
Barrett concluded: "I think the two of them are absolute heroes, and we as a country should do something for Leanne and John. We should honour them, we should make them knights and dames.
"Rudakubana represents absolute evil, and they represent good. They are heroes in our society and we are lucky to have them."
Starmer has defended his position on withholding information about the Southport killer. The Prime Minister insisted he was following "the law of the land" to prevent the case against Rudakubana from collapsing.
"You know and I know that it would not have been right to disclose those details," Starmer told reporters. "The only losers if the details had been disclosed would be the victims and the families because it ran the risk the trial would collapse."
Find Out More...