There are deep fears that people who are fascinated with extreme violence will cause carnage in Britain
Hundreds of people fascinated by extreme violence are referred to Prevent (Image: Getty)
Urgent action is demanded to stop massacres at school and attacks designed to cause massive numbers of casualties. Official figures show that in 2023-24, 162 referrals were made to the anti-extremism Prevent programme because of concerns about potential school massacres. This was an increase on 2022-23 (159) and 2021-22 (154).
The findings also show there were 469 referrals in 2024-25 due to concerns about “fascination with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks”. These were most common in London (81), the North West (80) and the North East (67).
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “This is a worrying trend. Those obsessed with extreme violence are dangerous.They need mental health interventions and if they commit a crime then they need to be imprisoned for a long time.”
Mr Philp fears insufficient attention is given to monitoring people who may be under the sway of Islamist ideology.
He said: “I am also concerned at the under-referral of Islamist extremists into Prevent. Islamist extremists have committed 94% of terrorist murders in the last 25 years, but are only 10% of Prevent’s caseload.”
Of the 8,778 referrals to Prevent, just 870 were for “Islamic extremism”, compared with 1,798 linked to “extreme Right-wing” ideology and a mere 21 connected to “Left-wing extremism”.
Alan Mendoza of the Henry Jackson Society national security think tank warned that people fascinated with carnage on an epic scale should be considered dangerous.
“Obviously there is a real and pressing concern about those in our society who are fascinated with mass violence, and school massacres in particular,” he said. “When we have seen actual examples of such extremism manifest, they have had devastating consequences.
“Those referred on this basis must therefore be considered dangerous and urgent interventions undertaken to challenge their thinking and, if required, to prevent a further spiral into radicalisation through law enforcement.”
The highest number of referrals to Prevent were made in the South East (1,397), followed by London (1,354), the North East (1,312), the North West (1,296), the West Midlands (1,090), the East Midlands (749), the East (614), the South West (568) and Wales (398).
The overall number of referrals to Prevent has climbed from 4,915 in 2020-21, to 6,406 in 2021-22, 6,817 in 2022-23, 6,922 in 2023-24 and 8,778 in 2024-25.
Alan Mendoza of the Henry Jackson Society warned of ‘devastating consequences’ (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The UK has one of the most robust counter-terrorism frameworks in the world to direct people away from the dangerous path of radicalisation – whether it be Islamist ideology, extreme right-wing or those seeking mass violence. We have taken over 8,000 referrals in the last year and supported nearly 6,000 people away from radicalisation since the introduction of the statutory Prevent duty in 2015.”
The Government says it is supplying an extra £140million for counter-terror policing this year with a boost of nearly £500million for the country’s intelligence services. It claims to have introduced new guidance and training to boost the quality of Prevent.
Members of the public are encouraged to report anonymously any material they discover online which could be illegal or harmful. A public reporting tool is available at www.gov.uk/report-terrorism.
