Southport Inquiry: Violent video clip viewed by killer still on X

During the inquiry, she was repeatedly asked if she agreed that the clip was “horrific and very violent.”

She said: “I wouldn’t want to watch it, that is why we have controls on our platform for people who don’t want to watch something like this.”

X has maintained that keeping the video is lawful and that the attack on the cleric was a newsworthy event.

An excerpt of the final report of the first inquiry phase, written by retired judge Sir Adrian Fulford, was read out, which said: “I make clear that I do not suggest that X has acted unlawfully in this regard. UK law currently permits it to act in this way.

“The criticism is that it is deeply regrettable that they have refused outright to exercise their discretion to prohibit posts which include the most graphic part of the material, namely the immediate act of the stabbing of the bishop.

“X maintained this position once they knew that the material had been searched for by (Rudakubana) minutes before he left to murder Elsie, Alice and Bebe.”

Although Handoo said “we cannot make judgment” based on opinions outside X’s rules, she agreed that she would ask her team to review the platform’s current policy.

Hearings in phase two of the inquiry are expected to run until December.