Southport riots: Mother’s baseless claim incites UK chaos
Bernadette Spofforth, a wealthy mother of three children, was at the center of controversy. Her false accusations spread on social media, causing riots across the United Kingdom. Spofforth falsely claimed that the suspect in the Southport attack was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK last year.
It all started when Spofforth posted on X that the suspect in the murders of three girls in Southport was named Ali Al-Shakati and was an asylum seeker. In the post, she warned, "If this is true, then all hell is about to break loose." However, it quickly became apparent that her accusations were baseless.
The real suspect turned out to be 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana, a Cardiff-born son of Rwandans who legally arrived in the UK in 2002.
Russian trolls and far-right agitators such as Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate picked up the unverified accusations spread by Spofforth. These pieces of information led to riots across the UK.
Spofforth, who lives on a luxurious estate in Cheshire, stated that she had no intention of being the catalyst for riots in the UK. She added that she received the information from someone in Southport. However, she did not provide any evidence to support her claims.
"My life has been destroyed"
Bernadette Spofforth is known for her controversial views, especially on issues related to lockdowns and vaccinations. Before deleting her Twitter account, she had tens of thousands of followers.
It was just a mistake. I did a really stupid stupid thing, I copied and pasted it from what I saw, and I added the line 'if this is true.' I think it is very easy for a situation which is very emotional and very heightened, so you can end up believing what you're seeing. (...) People should be very careful about putting what they think is true without doing the research – she said in an interview with "The Times".
Riots and police actions
The riots that broke out after the dissemination of false information led to the largest police mobilization in UK history. More than 400 people have already been arrested. The suspects were sentenced for various crimes, including public disorder and assault. The UK's highest prosecutor suggested that riot participants could face terrorism charges.
Moreover, police conducted raids on the homes of the most violent rioters.
The story of Bernadette Spofforth is an example of how irresponsibly publishing unverified information on social media can lead to serious consequences.
