The report on Phase 1 of the Southport Inquiry into the murder of three young girls and injury of 10 other people during an attack on a children’s dance club was published on 13 April 2026. The Inquiry has examined the perpetrator’s online activity in the lead up to the attack which demonstrates that he had accessed and viewed a variety of violent content, including through using computer systems at his school.
Consequently, the report has made a number of recommendations concerning online harms, including for the Department of Education to ensure that there is adequate guidance for schools on monitoring and filtering systems in schools to prevent students viewing graphic content and that Lancashire County Council undertake a review of its Children and Family Wellbeing Service to assess and manage risk and online harms to children.
The report also highlights the inadequacy of current powers for inquiries to obtain information about social media usage. Section 101 of the Online Safety Act 2023 enables Senior Coroners to notify Ofcom in order to obtain information about social media use by a child whose death in under investigation. This power has proved insufficient in the circumstances of the Southport Inquiry where information on the social media usage of a perpetrator has been sought.
The report recommends that the powers under the Online Safety Act be extended to enable notification by Senior Coroners to Ofcom to obtain access to social media accounts of perpetrators (not just of a child who has died), and for statutory Inquiries, as well as inquests, to be empowered to make a notification to Ofcom to obtain access to the social media accounts of both a child who has died and a perpetrator.
The report further recommends that in Phase 2 the Inquiry should consider verification for the use of Virtual Private Network (VPN) software and other options to avoid VPNs being used to circumvent the age-related protections prescribed in the Online Safety Act, as well as systems to detect and report concerning online behaviour and suspicious combinations of purchases. Online safety issues will clearly remain central to the Inquiry as it continues its work.
About the author
Charlie is an Associate in the Public Law team and has experience in bringing and defending public law challenges across a variety of contexts and sectors, including payment/financial services, criminal justice, education, healthcare, and policing.
