The misspelt name of the Southport killer in the government’s database for potential terrorists may have hampered his assessment as a possible mass murderer, an inquiry has disclosed.

A rapid learning review of the Prevent programme found that Axel Rudakubana’s case was closed “prematurely” after three referrals for an interest in knives and mass atrocities between December 2019 and April 2021.

His surname was correctly recorded in 2019, but misspelled in 2021, which meant that anti-terror officers “may not have been able to see a previous referral”.

The 18-year-old was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years – one of the highest minimum terms on record – for murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a dance class in Southport on 29 July last year.

He also attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as the class instructor Leanne Lucas and the businessman John Hayes.

Dan Jarvis, the Home Office minister in charge of the Prevent programme, told MPs on Wednesday: “The Prevent learning review found that there was sufficient risk for the perpetrator to have been managed through Prevent.

“It found that the referral was closed prematurely, and there was sufficient concern to keep the case active while further information was collected.”

Jarvis told MPs that his case should have been escalated to the Channel “multi-agency” process, where he would have undergone intensive support and treatment to steer him away from any terror attack.

The Southport MP Patrick Hurley told the chamber “it beggared belief” that the report noted Rudakubana’s name was spelled incorrectly on the Prevent database.

The review said Rudakubana’s surname was misspelt as Prevent officers tried to assess his danger. It said: “The supervisor may not have been able to see the previous referral … because the first case record was created under a slightly different spelling.”

The review continued: “As the supervisor was unable to find the previous referral … this may have caused the case to be closed quickly on minimal information. This may be due to the second referral being created on a new subject/individual entity due to the misspelling of [Rudakubana’s] surname.”

His case was closed despite him showing an interest in the Manchester Arena attack, in which the suicide bomber Salman Abedi killed 22 children, men and women at an Ariana Grande concert in 2017. Rudakubana had also talked about “stabbing people”.

Jarvis told MPs that the Prevent programme knew that Rudakubana had been caught carrying a knife in 2019, and searched on the internet for school shootings, London bombings, the IRA and the Israel-Palestine conflict, between December 2019 and April 2021.

The minister said: “I can update the house that the perpetrator was referred to Prevent three times between December 2019 when he was aged 13 and April 2021 when he was 14. Those referrals were made by his schools.

“The first referral reported concerns about him carrying a knife and searching for school shootings on the internet. The second referral was focused on his online activity relating to Libya and Gaddafi. His third referral was for searching for London bombings, the IRA and the Israel-Palestine conflict.

“On each of these occasions, the decision at the time was that the perpetrator should not progress to the channel multi-agency process.”

The Guardian disclosed that Rudakubana was referred to the counter-extremism programme on three occasions between December 2019 and April 2021. It also emerged that counter-terrorism officers closed his case because they believed he had an interest in world news and current affairs but no cause or political belief, and was “not in danger of being radicalised”.

The review found there was enough evidence for Prevent officers assessing each of his three referrals to the counter-extremism programme to escalate his case to Channel. Participating with Prevent and Channel programmes is voluntary.

Cooper has said she will introduce new terrorism orders for young people who refuse to engage with Prevent. The new youth diversion orders will ban children as young as 10 from using the internet or engaging in forums.

Under-18s who breach an order will be fined and given a community sentence of up to six months in custody while those aged between 18 and 21 will face up to two years in prison.