Teenagers 'who wanted to emulate Southport killer' arrested

Two teenagers in two months have been arrested after allegedly seeking to emulate the Southport killer, it can be disclosed.

The two "copycat" cases will raise fears of an increase in potential attacks targeting schools and particularly young girls at dance schools. There are more than 11,000 dance schools in the UK and it is one of the most popular forms of exercise for girls.

Neither teenager has been charged with preparing terrorist attacks because targeting schoolchildren and misogynistic attacks are not considered "ideological" offences by prosecutors. The pair have instead been charged with relatively minor offences.

It comes as referrals to the Prevent de-radicalisation programme with no ideology have risen steeply over the last year and now make up more than half of the proportion, although the statistics reveal that only 7% of them were offered intervention. Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was turned down by the programme three times.

He was 17 when he murdered Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July last year and was later jailed for life. The first phase of the inquiry into the killings concluded on Friday, after examining the missed opportunities to prevent the attack, including the lack of security advice to out-of-school clubs.

There is no date for the second phase which will consider whether police, social services and mental health services are equipped to deal with the risk posed by young people who have a fixation with acts of extreme violence. Neither of the young men who were recently charged can be named because of their ages - the first, from South Wales was aged 17, and the second, from Merseyside, aged 16.

What were the alleged copycat cases? The first copycat case, from June this year, involved a 17-year-old who talked of emulating Rudakubana and conducted research into obtaining large knives. Police found a note saved on the youth's phone headed "places to attack" which included images of a dance school near his home.

Location data on his phone suggested that he had been close to the school a few days earlier. He had also researched other potential targets, including his own school, and told others on Snapchat of a plan to attack the first Oasis reunion concert on 4 July in Cardiff.

He has pleaded guilty to a single charge of possession of a document useful for terrorism, for which Rudakubana received an 18-month sentence, and is due to be sentenced in January. The case has been adjourned for psychiatric reports amid concerns that he suffers from autism spectrum disorder, the same neurological condition which affected Rudakubana.

In the second case, the teenager, from Merseyside, allegedly planned to attack a Taylor Swift-themed event wearing a green hoodie in the same way as Rudakubana. Read more:What we've learned from Southport inquiryThe missed chances to stop Rudakubana The youth had allegedly visited Southport, collected knives, researched a Taylor Swift-themed event and downloaded the same al Qaeda manual used by Rudakubana to produce the poison ricin.

He had researched high school shootings and misogynist incels and considered an attack on his old school, after dropping out, according to prosecutors. The second youth was arrested in August and has also been charged with possession of documents useful for terrorism along with a charge of making threats to kill and is due to enter pleas next month..