Exclusive: Laurence Taylor says separate scheme needed to report concerns over young people’s non-ideological interest in extreme violence
The scheme meant to identify people before they become terrorists is being “overwhelmed” by a large surge in referrals, Britain’s head of counterterrorism has said.
Assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor told the Guardian that more than 10,000 people would be referred to Prevent this year, up more than a third from two years ago.
While some referrals were trivial – including a primary school pupil being reported for kicking a classmate the day after watching the children’s movie Kung Fu Panda – the majority involved concerns about people being interested in violence, but where no ideology was involved.
Reports to Prevent started to increase after the 2024 Southport knife attack. The Guardian revealed that the teenager who killed three schoolgirls at a dance class had been referred to the counter-terrorism scheme three times, but was dismissed because his fascination with violence was assessed as not being driven by jihadist or extreme rightwing ideologies.
