Southport assailant Axel Rudakubana killed three girls during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class after officials overlooked multiple chances to recognize the danger he presented to others.
A public investigation has been initiated, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer emphasized that he will not allow any governmental body to waive responsibility for their shortcomings, which he described as “obvious”.
Rudakubana is facing a life sentence after admitting guilt for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in the Merseyside locality on July 29 of the previous year.
He had been referred to the government’s anti-extremism programme on three occasions and had interactions with law enforcement, the judiciary, the justice system, and mental health services in the years leading up to the tragic stabbings.
Schools
Rudakubana, now 18, was first recognized by authorities in 2019, initially due to his anxiety and social withdrawal, and later due to his concerning actions.
In October 2019, he brought a knife to Range High School in Formby, resulting in his expulsion, after which he returned to assault a fellow student with a hockey stick two months later.
Axel Rudakubana was expelled from school
The adolescent subsequently attended two specialized institutions, The Acorns School in Lancashire and Presfield High School and Specialist College in Southport, where his attendance dipped below 1%, raising serious concerns among educators about his conduct.
He faced significant challenges reintegrating into school post-expulsion, as noted by the Lancashire Child Safeguarding Partnership, which indicated that “this issue was worsened by the pandemic”.
Mental health specialists recorded that he was undergoing anxiety that hindered him from leaving his dwelling.
Police
Law enforcement had frequent interactions with the youth from the knife incident until May 2022, including responding to five dispatches from his residence in Banks, Lancashire, raising alarms regarding his behavior.
Every instance prompted officers to make vulnerable child referrals to a multi-agency safeguarding hub, intended to prevent individuals from being neglected by sharing risk-related information across various organizations.
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An evaluation indicated that “early assistance,” which aims to support children and their families before social workers become involved, was necessary.
Rudakubana was also directed to the youth justice service, completing a referral order in 2021, with reports indicating that he “engaged fully,” as stated by the safeguarding partnership.
Anti-extremism programme
He was referred to the government’s Prevent anti-extremism initiative on three occasions by educational institutions, starting when he was merely 13 years old, after it was reported that he had viewed content related to U.S. school shootings, with two additional referrals in 2021.
Individuals referred to the scheme undergo assessment to ascertain their potential terrorism risk, but on each occasion it was determined that Rudakubana did not meet the criteria for action.
He was later charged with possessing a document with potential use for terrorism – a PDF titled “Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual” – following a search of his residence in the aftermath of the Southport incident.
This charge, which he has also acknowledged, indicates he may have possessed the document as early as August 29, 2021, just months after his last Prevent referral in April of that year.
Preoccupation with violence and weaponry
It is also believed that he held numerous other documents on violent themes, such as A Concise History Of Nazi Germany, The Myth Of The Remote Controlled Car Bomb, and Amerindian Torture And Cultural Violence.
Images related to warfare and conflict, including those from Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and Korea, as well as pictures of knives and machetes, were found on his devices.
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Ricin was found in a container beneath Rudakubana’s bed, and a bag was also discovered that had previously contained castor seeds, which are utilized to produce the toxin and had been purchased in 2022.
Police also recovered a machete and a knife identical to the one employed in the assault, which also resulted in injuries to eight additional children, aged between seven and 13, as well as yoga instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
Just one week prior, on July 22, he attempted to head to his former high school as students were concluding for the summer break, but his father followed him out of the house and implored the taxi driver not to take him.
He was dressed in the same attire – a green hooded sweatshirt with the hood drawn up and a surgical mask – that he wore when he traveled by taxi to the Hart Space where the stabbings occurred.
Minutes before departing from home, he had searched the social media platform X for details about a mass stabbing that occurred at a church in Sydney in 2024.
