Southport killer’s parents ‘bear considerable blame’ for ‘preventable’ attack, damning report finds
Report by Amy-Clare Martin, Crime correspondent, and Tara Cobham in The Independent
The Southport Inquiry published its findings on Monday after hearing evidence on the attack of “unparalleled cruelty”, which claimed the lives of three children and left eight more girls and two adults wounded.
It also heard about the involvement of state agencies with killer Axel Rudakubana, 19, in the lead-up to the incident at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop on 29 July 2024.
Chairman Sir Adrian Fulford concluded that “this terrible event could have been – and should have been – prevented”.
He said that “it is almost certain this tragedy would have been prevented” if the killer’s family had shared the full extent of their concerns with authorities in late July 2024.
In the damning 763-page report, Sir Adrian found:
- A “fundamental failure” by any organization to take responsibility for managing Rudakubana’s “grave risks”, allowing him to fall through the cracks, and adding that the police missed two occasions to arrest him for carrying a knife
- There were missed opportunities over many years to intervene by his parents and other agencies, warning that some safeguards were “ineffective or inadequately used”, while others “failed outright.”
- Rudakubana’s “deeply problematic behaviour was too frequently excused based on his perceived or diagnosed autism spectrum disorder.”
- The killer became “ever more fixated on extreme violence” after spending the majority of his waking hours “wholly unsupervised” online, where he viewed increasingly disturbing content
- “Significant parental failures” hid crucial information from officials in the days leading up to the attack and allowed knives and weapons to be delivered to his home
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were murdered when Rudakubana, then 17, entered The Hart Space, armed with a knife in summer 2024. He also attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas, and businessman John Hayes. The 19-year-old, who was simply referred to as “the perpetrator” or “AR” in hearings out of respect to victims and their families, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years.
The inquiry, held over nine weeks at Liverpool Town Hall last year, heard from more than 100 witnesses, 67 who gave live evidence, about topics including Rudakubana’s involvement with health services, social care and education, and the three referrals to anti-terror programme Prevent that were made, and closed, before he carried out the attack. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the inquiry in January 2025 after Rudakubana’s contact with these various bodies emerged.
In a statement delivered at Liverpool Town Hall as the report was published, Sir Adrian said: “I have no doubt that if appropriate procedures had been in place and if sensible steps had been taken by the agencies and AR’s parents, this dreadful event would not have happened.“It could have been, and it should have been prevented.”