The Southport killer first began to worry medical professionals aged just 12.
By 13, such was the concern about Axel Rudakubana’s violent and aggressive behaviour that mental health experts, social workers and teachers held a multi-agency meeting to discuss him.
One, as-yet-unidentified, professional offered a £5 bet to anyone who could predict what Rudakubana would do next.
Four years later, before he had even turned 18, Rudakubana stabbed three girls to death and injured eight others and three adults at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club.
The families of Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, as well as 18 other children who were physically or psychologically injured in the attack believe he “could and should have been stopped”, their lawyers have said.
Evidence heard at the public inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall this week laid bare for the first time the scale of intervention in Rudakubana’s young life before he carried out one of Britain’s worst atrocities.
Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar died in the attack (Photos: PA)Inquiry chair Sir Adrian Fulford heard that the actions of at least 20 individuals, public bodies or businesses will be examined in the years before the attack.
David Temkin, KC, acting for the families of injured children, said: “Warning signs were missed, support was inconsistent, and opportunities to intervene were lost.”
Alphonse Rudakubana and his wife Laetitia Muzayire came to Britain from Rwanda in 2002 after gaining asylum.
They initially lived in Cardiff, where Axel was born, before moving to Southport in 2013 when his mother obtained a job in a laboratory. The family moved to a house in Banks, West Lancashire, in 2017.
The actions of his parents will be a “significant topic” for the public inquiry, counsel Nicholas Moss KC said.
The parents suggest there was a “marked deterioration” in Rudakubana’s behaviour from 2019, around the time he was excluded from school for taking a knife into the building, the inquiry heard.
They made a number of calls to Lancashire police because of his violent behaviour, including pouring milk over his father’s head and locking himself in the bathroom and flooding the bath.
However, a number of professionals involved with Rudakubana “took issue” with his parents, Mr Moss said.
The headteacher at The Acorns School, where Rudakubana went after he was permanently excluded, felt they “lost support” from his parents once they disclosed that he had been referred to the anti-terrorism programme Prevent.
Well-wishers lay flowers in Southport on the first anniversary of the stabbings (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)Mr Moss said the inquiry may also examine the parents involvement in how Rudakubana was successfuly able to order weapons online while under the age of 18.
In October 2023 he bought a machete from a website using the driving licence of a 61-year-old man called “Samuel” which was delivered by Royal Mail.
Royal Mail have told the inquiry they believe it was signed for by Rudakubana’s father.
Alphonse also told police when he was “allowed” to clean his son’s room the week before the attack, he noticed a bow and arrow and items which may have been used in the preparation of ricin and smoke grenades.
2. Rudakubana’s GP
Rudakubana’s GP, based in Sefton, first referred him to mental health services when he was just 12.
A few months later, the GP asked for Rudakubana to be assessed for possible attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Rudakubana was first referred to Alder Hey Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) in April 2019.
After further referrals, he was accepted by Alder Hey Camhs in December 2019 and remained under their care until he was discharged following the Southport attack in July 2024.
The inquiry will look at the treatment and medication he received and whether sufficient assessment was made of the risks he posed.
4. Camhs Lancashire
There were also attempts to have Rudakubana accepted by the Camhs service in Lancashire, the inquiry heard.
A referral was made by the special needs coordinator at his school in November 2018, however this was not accepted because his GP was based in Sefton.
The inquiry will consider whether the fact Rudakubana’s schooling and treatment fell across several different geographical boundaries allowed him to “fall through the cracks”.
Police forces had several dealings with Rudakubana over four years between 2019 and 2023, the inquiry heard.
The first contact was with Lancashire Police when he contacted the charity Childline to tell them he had taken a knife into his school in Formby in October 2019.
He was visited by a Pc at his home address who discussed the matter with him and his parents.
Rudakubana was not arrested and no formal report was made to Merseyside Police where the offence would have taken place.
6. Lancashire County Council – MASH
Lancashire County Council were also alerted to Rudakubana after his disclosure of bringing a knife into school.
Rudakubana was permanently excluded from his school in Formby over the knife incident.
Merseyside Police first dealt with him just a few months later in December 2019 when he returned to his former school in a taxi armed with a knife.
He managed to attack a pupil with a hockey stick before teachers restrained him.
Rudakubana was arrested and charged with offences including assault, possession of a bladed article and possession of an offensive weapon.
8. Child and Youth Justice Service
Due to this age and because it was his first offence, Rudakubana received a ‘referral order’ after being convicted of these criminal offences.
This meant he was dealt with by the Child and Youth Justice Service, a public body run by the Ministry of Justice.
Because of Rudakubana’s referral to MASH, he was also allocated a social worker by Lancashire County Council’s Child & Family Wellbeing Service.
After his conviction for the criminal offence, he was moved to a different part of the council’s children’s services called Children’s Social Care, for cases where the council has identified “a child in need”, the inquiry heard.
10. Counter Terrorism Police North West
Rudakubana was referred to Prevent, the government’s anti-terrorism programme on three occasions before the Southport attack.
The first was made by staff at the Acorns School, where he attended after being excluded, in December 2019.
This was because of his recent behaviour involving knives at his previous school and because of comments he had been making in class about killing people and murder, the inquiry heard.
The public inquiry chair Sir Adrian Fulford sitting at Liverpool Town Hall (Source: PA)Staff had also discovered him researching school shootings.
A counter terrorism officer visited Rudakubana in his home in January 2020 and spoke to his father, but ultimately decided to close his case.
Two further referrals in 2021 were also assessed and closed.
When Rudakubana was first referred to Prevent in December 2019, MI5 did not consider him to meet the “threshold for opening an MI5 investigation because there was no terrorist or domestic extremist ideology identified in the intelligence”, Mr Moss told the inquiry.
12. Childline
Rudakubana contacted Childline, the free counselling service for kids and young people, via online chat on October 2019.
He disclosed having brought a knife to school with the intention of killing another child he alleged was bullying him.
It was this disclosure which set off many of the interventions by other services, the inquiry heard.
This was a charity which was asked to help Rudakubana, starting in 2019 when he was first referred to mental health services.
The company provided “therapeutic” counselling sessions.
At one point, his counsellor raised concerns with Camhs that Rudakubana was “angry” about being excluded from school and “did not appear to understand the consequences of his actions”.
14. The Range School
Rudakubana attended The Range School in Formby from 2017 when he joined in Year 7, until 2019 when he was premanently excluded.
In Year 8, he began making comments in class, including in RE when he said the Manchester Arena bombing “was an example of Jihad”, the inquiry heard.
In October 2019, he told staff “that’s why teachers get murdered” after being given a detention and was then involved in a fight.
The school was then informed by police that Rudakubana had told Childline he had carried a knife into school “on at least 10 occasions”, the inquiry heard, and this resulted in his permanent exclusion.
The inquiry will be looking at how the school handled Rudakubana’s conduct and behaviour.
After being excluded, Rudakubana attended The Acorns School in Ormskirk, a pupil referral unit for children who are not able to attend regular schools.
Shortly after joining in November 2019, he was found to be viewing distressing material on the internet during IT class, including material on mass school shootings in America, ‘degloving injuries’ and searches on weapons.
It was the Acorns School that made referrals to Prevent and in February 2021 one support teacher wrote in an email: “He could easily be radicalised and would be a huge risk if this happened.”
16. Presfield school
It was also around this time that Rudakubana was formally diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder.
As a result, his father asked that he be moved to Presfield school in Southport, a specialist school for children with autism.
Rudakubana was enrolled from March 2022 until June 2024.
The inquiry heard that the safeguarding lead was off sick when he joined and then missed an email from his previous school Acorns, and headteachers were therefore “largely unaware” of his history.
Despite numerous home visits, Rudakubana failed to attend Presfield the vast majority of the time, Mr Moss said.
The inquiry will look at a number of issues concerning Rudakubana’s schooling including whether further Prevent referrals should have been made, whether information about his past behaviour was handed over between schools and the adequacy of risk assessments.
The inquiry has heard how Rudakubana was able to buy a large number of weapons – including knives, machetes and a bow and arrow – as well as the components for ricin on the internet, while under the age of 18.
In 2023, he sent a series of questions to huntingandknives.co.uk about their age-verification process.
One query was: “Does the person who receives the delivery have to be the same person on the ID or not?”
Rudakubana was successfully able to order a machete from this website using a driving licence belonging to a 61-year-old man. He was 17 at the time.
18. Amazon
The inqury heard Rudakubana was also able to buy weapons and seeds which are used in the preparation of ricin from Amazon.
Whether there should be tighter controls on the sale of these seeds is a question the inquiry will consider, Mr Moss said.
Rudakubana bought a bow and arrows from Amazon in 2022 while aged 15.
On the morning of the Southport attack, evidence recovered from one of Rudakubana’s devices suggests that he viewed footage on X of the stabbing of Mar Mari Emmanuel in Sydney, Australia, which took place in April 2024.
The inquiry has asked X for information as to how Rudakubana, then aged 17, was able to view graphic footage of the Sydney stabbing on its platform.
20. Sefton council
Sefton council was responsible for Rudakubana’s school attendance and educational standards.
The council was notified when he was excluded over the knife incident in 2019 and the decision could have been subject to a review had his parent’s requested one, but they didn’t.
The council will face questions over Rudakubana’s poor attendance at Presfield, the inquiry heard.
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