Dame Rachel de Souza called for a stronger safeguarding response for children who are fixated with violence but have no clear extremist ideology
Children are becoming “intoxicated by extremism” and are increasingly becoming radicalised online, the children’s commissioner has said.
Dame Rachel de Souza said that almost three quarters of the 4,700 referrals to the government’s anti-terror scheme Prevent were not prescribed to a particular ideology such as Islamist or right-wing extremism, but had a “fascination with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks”.
Examples given included children frequently talking about weapons, idolising ‘famous’ attackers, sharing extreme pornography or videos of violence including beheadings or suicides.
In a new report, published on Tuesday, Dame Rachel said the current process “risks missing opportunities” and called for a “stronger safeguarding response particularly for children who are fixated with violence but have no identified extremist ideology”.
Referrals to Prevent involving children have risen in the past decade, from 2,918 in 2016-17 to 4,715 in 2024-25.
Her comments come as the Phase 2 of the Southport inquiry broadens to examine how systems such as the Prevent programme need to change to prevent atrocities, in the wake of Axel Rudakubana’s murderous rampage in July 2024.
The then-17-year-old Rudakubana had travelled to a Taylor Swift themed dance class and murdered Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, as well as stabbing several other children.
He had been referred to Prevent three times over his obsession with violence, but his case was closed over a lack of clear ideology.
The commissioner’s office’s analysis suggested seven in 10 (71 per cent) referrals to Prevent involved children who did not have a clear ideology, with many linked to exposure to harmful content online.
Of the total Prevent referrals for children between April 2024 and March 2025, 79 per cent were closed without progressing through the programme.
In this time period, almost 60 per cent of Prevent referrals came from education, while police accounted for 20 per cent and local authorities 11 per cent.
But the commissioner’s office found that at least 65 per cent of referrals from education providers were referred back to education on closing, the vast majority of which (93 per cent) had not progressed any further through the Prevent programme.
Her report said: “This highlights that there is a group of children which professionals are greatly concerned about, and seeking support for, but are finding closed doors and dead ends.”
She added: “Here we have a system holding a great deal of worry about a group of children, seeking somewhere for them to get help, or someone to hold responsibility for them, and not finding it.
“Children referred in, then referred out. That is not good enough – and the failures in the system have tragic consequences.”
The second phase of the Southport Inquiry, which opened in July, is examining how to deal with individuals who pose a risk of extreme violence, but where ideology is not the primary driver, as well as the role of the internet and social media in influencing and enabling them.
Dame Rachel has also recommended that online platforms should be required to complete a risk assessment for the risk of radicalisation or violence fixation, and that government should “restrict technology companies from accessing children, until they are able to prove that they have measures in place to protect them from harm”.
A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to ensuring all children are safe from radicalisation and Prevent plays a crucial role in this, moving more than 6,000 people away from violent ideologies since 2015.
“Every Prevent referral is assessed thoroughly by experts.
“If it’s determined a person is not at risk of being drawn into terrorism, it is right they are supported by other, more appropriate services.
“We thank the Children’s Commissioner for her report.
“We are reviewing it alongside our work in response to the Southport Inquiry – including developing further options to manage those fascinated with extreme violence.”
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