“You’ll never be wasting our time,” reads the poster (above and below) featuring Matt Jukes (right), Head of the Counter Terrorism Police, the organisation responsible for the counter-extremism programme Prevent, standing next to a Manchester Arena survivor. Jukes has a stern look in his eyes, as if to warn would-be extremists that they can’t hide or evade justice from Britain’s toughest force.
Back in the real world, however, there are signs that all is not well with Prevent (to put it incredibly mildly). On Monday it was revealed that Axel Rudakubana, the Southport killer, had been referred to the programme three times between 2019 and 2021 due to his obsession with violence, but Prevent never heeded the warnings.
