Plymouth shooting: Relatives call for 'more action on incel culture'

Family members of five people killed by a gunman in Plymouth have urged the government to take action on "incel" culture in new online safety laws.

At a meeting, they raised concerns with Security Minister Damian Hinds about the growth of hateful online content and possible links to the shootings.

Jake Davison, who had discussed the incel movement on social media, killed his mother and four others in August.

The government said it was "committed to tackling harmful content online".

The movement has been described as being populated by young men describing themselves as "involuntarily celibate".

The government's Online Safety Bill offered "a chance to tackle the toxic underbelly of the internet that acts as a breeding ground for hate and incel culture", said Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, who organised the meeting.

"I don't want to see another tragedy like the one we experienced last year ever happen again," he said.

"That means we not only need reform of Britain's gun laws: we also need action to drain the swamp online."

Davison, 22, shot his mother Maxine, 51; three-year-old Sophie Martyn; her father, Lee, 43; Stephen Washington, 59; and Kate Shepherd, 66 in a six-minute spree in the Keyham area of the city on 12 August.

The killer, who died after turning the gun on himself, had spoken online of being "beaten down" and "defeated by life".

Full inquests into the deaths are due to begin in January 2023.

A government spokesperson said: "We are committed to tackling harmful content online.

"That is why we are introducing the Online Safety Bill, a pioneering and much-needed law to make the internet a safer place by requiring internet companies to protect children, tackle illegal activity and uphold their stated terms and conditions.

"All companies in scope of the legislation will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content on their platforms, including illegal terrorist content."

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