The red flags and missed chances to stop Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana
Axel Rudakubana has today been sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in prison for the horrific murders of three little girls on a devastating day in Southport.
Earlier this week, the 18-year-old admitted stabbing Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar to death during a violent rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in Hart Street on July 29. He also tried to kill eight other children and two adults.
After a chaotic sentencing hearing at Liverpool Crown Court today, in which Rudakubana was taken out several times after loudly complaining about feeling ill, he was jailed for a minimum of 52 years.
While today's sentence may provide some sense of justice for the horrific crimes he carried out, it will of course never bring back the little girls he took away or end the trauma of those who survived. It will also not dampen the anger that exists at the chances that were missed to intervene and stop this dangerous young man in the years before he unleashed horror in Southport last July.
Here we take a look at the contact he had with various agencies in the years before the attacks and some of the potential missed chances to stop him along the way.
Warning signs and school incidents
Axel Rudakubana demonstrated signs that he was capable of violence from an early age. in 2019 he took a knife into Range High School in Formby, which led to his expulsion. He returned to the same school later that year when he attacked a child with a hockey stick.
It was at this point that Rudakubana became known to children's social services and a multi-agency assessment was completed. He was also referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and social services.
It was determined that he had an autism spectrum disorder and he went on to attend two specialist schools, The Acorns School in Lancashire and Presfield High School and Specialist College in Southport. During his admission meeting, he was asked why he had taken a knife to school. He replied, 'To use it." Teachers expressed concerns about his behaviour and his attendance was below 1%. Officials said he struggled to re-integrate into school after his expulsion.
Police incidents
It can now be revealed that Lancashire Police were contacted six times between October 2019 and March 2023 about Axel Rudakubana.
The first of these call outs in 2019 came via a referral from Childline regarding comments he had made to the charity. It was revealed in court today that he asked Childline: “What should I do if I want to kill somebody?”. He went on to explain that he hated somebody at school who bullied him, felt angry and wanted to kill them. Police made a vulnerable child referral following this incident to the local Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH).
There were two police call outs in 2021, one after Rudakubana became distressed at home and a second following an argument he had in which he had kicked his father.
A highly concerning event came to light in March 2022 after Rudakubana's mother reported him missing. He was found on a bus after the driver called the police. When they arrived he disclosed he was in possession with a knife, which was found after a search. He was not arrested and was returned to his parents. Another referral was made to the MASH.
And in March 2023, the police received a call from a staff member at Presfield requesting a welfare check as he had not attended since nearly a year earlier. He had been seen by Child Adolescent Mental Health Services in January 2023. Circumstances did not reach the threshold for police deployment.
Speaking after the sentencing, Assistant Chief Constable of Lancashire Police, Mark Winstanley, who is also the chair of the county's Children's Safeguarding Assurance Partnership said: "As you would expect, we reviewed each of these incidents following the appalling attacks last July. It would be inappropriate for me to offer any further comment on the outcome of the reviews as these will all be thoroughly examined during the public inquiry."
Prevent
Rudakubana was referred to the government's Prevent anti-extremism scheme three times, the first of these coming when he was just 13 years old in 2019 and twice again in 2021. These referrals came after he had expressed interest in mass shootings and terror attacks.
On each of these occasions the referrals were made by schools he attended. It can now be revealed that in 2021 he was found to have shared a post about former Libya leader Muammar Gaddafi. In the same year, during a school lesson, he was found to have tabs open on a computer researching the London Bridge terror attack of 2019. On each occasion he was assessed by counter-terror police, but was not deemed a terrorism risk.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that a Prevent 'learning review' found that the referrals should not have been closed and should instead have been referred to the specialise Channel programme for intervention. The review found "too much weight was placed on the absence of ideology without considering the vulnerabilities to radicalisation or taking account of whether he was obsessed with massacre or extreme violence."
As well as the murders and attempted murders, Rudakubana was charged - and pleaded guilty to - an offence of possessing a document likely to be used for terrorism. This was a PDF with the title of 'Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual.' It is suggested that he had this document as long ago as August 29 2021 - which was not long after his last Prevent referral earlier that year.
Speaking after the sentencing, Vicki Evans, Senior National Coordinator for Prevent and Pursue at Counter Terrorism Policing said: "The perpetrator had contact with a range of services including the Prevent system. Following these attacks we have worked rapidly with the Home Office to commission a review of that contact and we welcome the announcement of a public inquiry, which will examine all services' previous contact with him. We will approach that enquiry with candour and that will not stop us making any changes required in the meantime.
"The same determination that we put to the investigation is now being applied to examining how the range of agencies involved did not come together to effectively understand, identify and deal with the risk that he posed."
She added: "At the time the Prevent partnership response to the increasing fixation with extreme violence was evolving, but was less developed than it is today. We have spoken about the growing number of young people with complex fixations with violence but who have no clear ideology. Although improvements to tackle this challenge have been made, it is right that questions are asked about what more needs to be done across the whole Prevent system and beyond."
Other services and other questions
We know from a statement from the Lancashire Child Safeguarding Partnership, which has launched its own Child Safety Practice Review (CSPR) into the case, that Rudakubana had become known to a number of mental health agencies due to "experiencing increasing anxiety and social isolation and latterly due to the development of some challenging behaviours."
We also know that Rudakubana was diagnosed as having an autism spectrum disorder assessment, which led to him receiving an education and health care plan. The statement from Lancashire Safeguarding Partnership said he 'remained open to Child Adolescent Mental Health Services. (CAMHS)'
But there is scant further detail known about exactly what contact the clearly troubled boy with a dark interest in violence had with mental health services, when and where this happened and what assessments were made of his state of mind in the years leading up to the horror of July 29 last year.
The ECHO understands, however, that Rudakubana's contact with Child Adolescent Mental Health Services was led by Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. Alder Hey runs the CAMHS Liverpool service, which runs from the Liverpool hospital as well as at Liverpool Innovation Park. Community teams also work out of Sefton (Burlington House and Southport Health and Wellbeing Centre).
At a pre-sentencing briefing, journalists were permitted to ask questions of the leaders of various agencies that came into contact with Rudakubana as well as the police and Merseyside Police. While there were representatives from the Lancashire Children's Safeguarding Partnership present - there was no one there to speak from an NHS mental health services perspective.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Winstanley of Lancashire Police was at the press conference in his capacity as chair of the county's Children's Safeguarding Assurance Partnership. He was asked by the ECHO asked for more detail about Rudakubana's contact with mental health services within the NHS and if any assessments were done on him.
Responding, ACC Winstanley said: "What I can't really do is speak on behalf of health and give you details with regarding to that. What I can tell you is that health is one of the three statutory members of the Children's Safeguarding Assurance Board and has been fully engaged from the outset of this inquiry and has fully participated in the CSPR and are very much part and parcel of the partnership. So whilst I can't give you any details on behalf of health, that interaction will form part of the CSPR."
At this point, journalists questioned why no NHS or mental health service leaders were present to answer these crucial questions. ACC Winstanley said he 'could not answer on behalf of health' as to why they were not there - but gave assurances that they will form part of both the public inquiry and the safeguarding review.
The ECHO has also asked Alder Hey for an official response as to what contact its mental health services had with Rudakubana, when this was and what assessments were made of his mental state. A spokesperson for the trust said: "Following the conviction of Axel Rudakubana, we welcome the announcement of an independent public inquiry and will fully co-operate in the process. It would not be appropriate for us to make any further comment at this time."