No charge for woman arrested for sharing fake name of Southport attacker as UK riots broke out

Bernadette Spofforth, 55, said police dragged her from her home and held her for 36 hours in a cell

Flowers and tributes outside the Atkinson Art Centre Southport to the children who died, including Bebe King (PA Wire)

A woman who first shared a fake name for the suspect in the Southport killings will face no further court action.

Bernadette Spofforth is alleged to have fired off a tweet on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, wrongly claiming the stabbing suspect was an asylum seeker who came to the UK by boat hours after the three girls were killed.

Mother-of-three Ms Spofforth, 55, was arrested on August 8 after reposting the fake name, commenting that if it were true there would be “hell to pay”.

She later deleted the post and apologised after realising the information was wrong.

Pockets of rioting erupted across England after three girls were murdered in Southport while at a summer holiday club (PA Wire)

Ms Spofforth said: “My crime was sharing a tweet which I deleted and apologised for sharing as soon I realised it contained inaccurate information.

“As has now been shown, the idea that one single tweet could be the catalyst for the riots which followed the atrocities in Southport is simply not true.

“Yet, despite repeatedly insisting I’d done nothing illegal, the police dragged me from my home and held me for 36 hours in a cell.

“What I’ve experienced over the past few weeks is nothing in comparison to the suffering of the tragic victims in Southport. And I’m not trying to compare the two.

“But I am just an ordinary person with ordinary opinions and I think it’s important that the public should know how ordinary people can be treated.

“The nightmare my family and I have lived through over the past month could happen to anyone. And in Britain in 2024 that’s unacceptable.”

The fake name for the attacker, and the false claim that he is a Muslim refugee who had arrived by boat in the country in the past year, was spread online by a number of far-right commentators.

This appeared to stoke anti-immigration hostility, with unrest breaking out in locations across the country, despite the fact that the rumour was not true.

The information appeared to originate from a news website called Channel3 Now, and the site’s editor-in-chief later apologised.

Axel Rudakubana has been charged with three counts of murder (PA Wire)

Cheshire police did not name Spofforth, but confirmed that a 55-year-old woman from near Chester would face no further action.

A spokesman said: “A woman who was arrested in relation to an inaccurate social media post has been released without charge.

“The 55-year-old woman from near Chester was arrested on Thursday August 8 following allegations in relation to a social media post containing inaccurate information about the identity of the attacker in the Southport murders.

“Following a thorough investigation, a decision has been made that no further action will be taken due to insufficient evidence.”

Axel Rudakubana, an 18-year-old born in Wales who had been living in Banks in Lancashire at the time of the Southport attack, has been charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.