00:00The public inquiry into the murders of three young girls in Southport last summer has opened in Liverpool.
00:06Chairman Sir Adrian Fulford, a former vice president of the Court of Appeal, will oversee proceedings at Liverpool Town Hall.
00:13The inquiry will hear evidence from four families whose children were injured in the attack.
00:18A key question for the inquiry is whether the attack could or should have been prevented, given what was known about the killer.
00:25Axel Rudicabana was given a life sentence in January with a minimum 10 of 52 years, one of the highest on record for murdering Alistair Silva Aguirre 9, B.B. King 6 and Elsie Dot Stankham 7
00:38as a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on the 29th of July last year.
00:43The 18-year-old also attempted to murder eight other children who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
00:52Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the public inquiry in January to help understand what went wrong and prevent any repetition of similar incidents.
01:02Three separate referrals were made to the government's counter-terror programme, Prevent, about Rudicabana's behaviour in the years before the attack, as well as six separate calls to police.
01:13A review into the Prevent referrals published in February found there was sufficient risk posed by Rudicabana to keep his cases within Prevent Active,
01:22but that these were closed prematurely while too much focus was placed on a lack of distinct ideology.
01:28The inquiry will draw on evidence from interviews with witnesses and disclosure from 15 organisations,
01:33including MI5, Counterterrorism Policing, NHS England and Mergeside Police.
01:38The widespread rioting and civil unrest following the murders is not being examined by the inquiry.
