Simon Spence KC provides expert legal analysis on Southport Inquiry

Simon Spence KC joined Nick Ferrari on the LBC Breakfast Show on Tuesday 14 April to discuss parental responsibilities in the context of the Southport Inquiry. He provided expert legal commentary following the publication of the Phase 1 report into the circumstances surrounding the Southport attack of 29 July 2024

Simon highlighted the difficult and evolving area of law concerning moral responsibility, criminal liability and the limits of existing offences. He noted that offences such as murder do not incorporate any form of vicarious liability and that while civil law recognises broader concepts of responsibility, criminal law does not currently impose positive obligations on individuals to report concerning behaviour unless it falls within specific categories such as terrorism. The question, he explained, is whether those positive obligations should be widened to cover serious violence outside the terrorism framework—such as cases involving weapons, escalating risk or obsessive behaviour.

He emphasised that any review of parental responsibilities, or the duties of adults responsible for young people, must grapple with how such obligations could be framed within a criminal statute without creating unfair or unworkable liabilities. As he observed, crafting such legislation is fraught with difficulty and there is a risk that poorly drafted reforms, especially by the current government, could end up imposing criminal sanctions for personal failings rather than clearly defined criminal offences.

Listen to the LBC News discussion from 00:10:16 here