Axel Rudakubana's parents could have prevented Southport attack, inquiry finds

The Southport attack would have been prevented if Axel Rudakubana's parents told the authorities what they knew about the killer, a public inquiry has found.

Chairman Sir Adrian Fulford also said it was "highly likely" the murders of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop on 29 July 2024 would not have happened if agencies had properly managed the risk the teenager posed.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were killed, while Rudakubana, then 17, also tried to murder eight other children, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes at The Hart Space in the Lancashire seaside town.

"This terrible event could have been and should have been prevented," said retired High Court Judge Sir Adrian Fulford in a statement as he unveiled his 763-page, two-volume report, in Liverpool Town Hall.

Read more: Southport Inquiry as it happened

He identified five major areas of systematic failure that "affected and indeed infected" all dealings with Rudakubana - who is serving a life sentence with a minimum of 52 years - and other agencies, including:

• The "frankly depressing" and "therefore urgent" matter requiring government attention is the failure at an organisational and individual level "to stand up and take responsibility" for managing the risk he posed.

• Critical failures in information sharing, meaning "essential information was repeatedly lost, diluted or poorly managed across agencies".

• A "repeated tendency" to "excuse" Rudakubana's behaviour, including violence, on the basis of his autism spectrum disorder (ASD), leading to inaction and a failure to address dangerous behaviours.

• A failure to oversee and intervene in Rudakubana's online behaviour, which "provided the clearest indications of his violent preoccupations".

• "Significant parental failures", including not providing boundaries, permitting knives and weapons to be delivered to the home, and failing to report crucial information in the days leading up to the attack.

'Turned into a monster'

In the report, in which Rudakubana, 19, is referred to by his initials, Sir Adrian said his parents, Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire, faced "significant challenges" but "ultimately failed" to report the risk in the week before the attack.

He said Rudakubana had "placed his mother and father in an extremely difficult position", and their "life at home must have become little short of a nightmare given, to use the words of his own father, AR had turned into a 'monster'".

But he found they had "created significant obstructions" to engagement with him by various agencies and failed to stand up to his behaviour and set boundaries, as well as failing to report a clear escalation in his risk.

"If AR's parents had done what they morally ought to have done, AR would not have been at liberty to conduct the attack and it would not therefore have occurred," he said.

"If the full extent of AR's family's concerns had been shared with authorities in late July 2024 - including on the day of the attack - it is almost certain this tragedy would have been prevented."

Both Rudakubana's parents, who moved to the UK from Rwanda, apologised when they gave evidence to the inquiry from remote locations.

'Inappropriate merry-go-round'

Sir Adrian found it should have been "obvious" Rudakubana was not being "effectively parented" and criticised failures by police, the government's counter-terror Prevent Programme, social care and healthcare, and those involved with his education.

"If the relevant agencies individually and collectively had properly managed and responded to the known risk that AR posed to others from December 2019 onwards, it is highly likely that this event would not have occurred," he said.

Sir Adrian found Rudakubana was passed from one agency to another in an "inappropriate merry-go-round" in a failure that "lies at the heart" of why he was able to mount the attack "despite so many warning signs of his capacity for fatal violence".

He described an incident in which he took a knife to his former school in December 2019 and attacked a boy with a hockey stick as a "watershed event", which should've led to a conclusion to all agencies involved he posed a "high risk of harm".

Rudakubana was referred to Prevent three times between 2019 and 2024, but the referrals were closed, while he bought weapons, including three machetes, and ingredients to make the poison ricin online.

Sir Adrian Fulford said had a further incident when he was caught on a bus with a knife in 2022 been judged in light of his past risk, he would have been arrested, and his possession of an al Qaeda manual and ricin seeds would have come to light.

'This fight doesn't end today'

Chris Walker, a lawyer representing the families of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, said the report's conclusion that the Southport stabbings could and should have been prevented is "stark".

He added: "On behalf of the families, we repeat the chair's hope that this marks a genuine turning point. Our clients have endured unimaginable loss, and their priority has always been preventing this from happening to another family while seeking individual and systemic accountability.

"This fight does not end today.

"We call for immediate action, clear accountability and real change - not simply reassurances that 'lessons have been learned'.

"The public deserves systems capable of identifying escalating risk, protecting the vulnerable and preventing acts of mass violence. We, alongside our clients, will continue to push for that change until it is achieved."

Chairman makes 67 recommendations

Sir Adrian made a total of 67 recommendations, including three to address the "fundamental problems", including considering whether there should be powers to restrict or monitor access to the internet for youngsters if they pose a risk to others.

He urged the Home Office to take immediate action to ensure online knife retailers are complying with the law.

He also said phase two of the inquiry, starting later this year, should look at age verification for the use of VPNs to avoid them being used to get around age-related protections in the Online Safety Act.

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