Police moved quickly to quell speculation about the suspect's ethnicity after 47 people, including four children, were injured after a car ploughed into a crowd of football fans in Liverpool
09:54, 27 May 2025Updated 09:59, 27 May 2025
Police officers stand at a cordon in Liverpool
A police cordon remained in place on Tuesday(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Merseyside Police took the unusual step of releasing the ethnicity and nationality of the Liverpool car horror suspect to combat social media misinformation, a former top cop has suggested.
The force confirmed it had arrested a white British man, 53, on Monday after a car was driven into fans celebrating Liverpool's Premier League victory, injuring 47 people, including four children.
It was an unusual move as police forces rarely release specific information until after a suspect is charged, and even then it is subject to strict pre-trial restrictions.
It comes less than a year after false allegations spread on social media that Southport killer — later named as Brit born Axel Rudakubana — was a Muslim and an asylum seeker.
The force confirmed it had arrested a white British man, 53, on Monday
The force confirmed it had arrested a white British man, 53, on Monday(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The false allegations, fuelled by far-right agitators with huge followings online, sparked days of unrest and riots which saw Mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers targeted.
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Former chief superintendent in the Metropolitan police Dal Babu said he believes the force — which also dealt the Southport murders and the aftermath — moved quickly to dampen down speculation about the suspect's identity.
He told the BBC: "So if you remember through Southport, the far-right on X were saying this was a Muslim asylum seeker who had just arrived on a boat, who had carried out the attacks.
False information of about Axel Rudakubana sparked major unrest last year
False information of about Axel Rudakubana sparked major unrest last year(Image: Jam Press)
"The lessons learnt from Southport is that you have rules and regulations but sometimes you need to feel the void, you don't allow speculation to continue.
"And then what you actually had with Southport is the far right gathering all over the country trying to burn down hospitals. So I think there were some lessons learnt from that.
"This is unprecedented in many ways for the police to give the ethnicity and race of a person who, at this stage, we don't know the circumstances of the person involved in the stage."
Riot police hold back protesters near a burning police vehicle after disorder broke out on July 30, 2024 in Southport
False information in the aftermath of the Southport stabbing attack sparked violent unrest(Image: Getty Images)
Retired inspector Peter Williams told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the quicker response was very different to what happened after Axel Rudakubana’s Southport killings in July last year. "It has been a shift. It was no surprise to me last night that within an hour or so, we got a statement to say what had happened and that somebody, a male, had been detained."
Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotherham said: "The lessons for us all to learn every time there's a major incident and I thought Merseyside Police handled the situation fantastically.
"There was a lot of footage posted immediately, within minutes and that sets off a lot of false narratives. That speculation on social media is a wildfire of various vantages, some of it for nefarious reasons.
Police officers cover with an inflatable tent, behind a firefighter vehicle, the tents delimiting the scene of an incident in Water Street
The scene of the horror on Monday night(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
"Merseyside Police moved quickly to dampen down that speculation. It was right for them to what they have done."
A blue forensic tent remained at the scene of the horror on Tuesday morning, along with huge police cordons around Water Street, near the city's famous Albert Dock.
Guidance from the College of Policing tells forces suspects "should not be identified to the media (by disclosing names or other identifying information) prior to the point of charge".
But it does say exceptions can be made where "justified by clear circumstances", which includes "a matter of public interest and confidence".
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