Inquiry hears teacher's warning of 'frightening red tape' over Southport killer

A teacher's email complaining of "frightening red tape" obstructing efforts to get police, social services and mental health help for the man who killed three girls in Southport was revealed on the opening day of a public inquiry into the attack.

The Southport Inquiry heard that teachers and other professionals repeatedly raised concerns about Axel Rudakubana's behaviour between 2019 and the mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop on July 29, 2024, but that those concerns were passed between agencies without sustained intervention. Nine-year-old Alice Aguiar, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and six-year-old Bebe King were killed; eight other children and two adults were seriously wounded.

Nicholas Moss KC, lead counsel to the inquiry, said the email was sent on March 21, 2023, by Cheryl Smith, the safeguarding lead at Presfield High School in Southport, where staff had been trying for about a year to get the then-17-year-old to attend. In her message to a colleague, Ms Smith said she had contacted social services, child and adolescent mental health teams and the police to try to secure interventions for Rudakubana, but had been unable to get anyone to act. "Short of breaking in I don't know how to see this kid," she wrote, the inquiry was told.

Moss told the hearing, sitting at Liverpool Town Hall, that the first phase of the inquiry would concentrate on three central questions: whether any agency had taken responsibility for managing Rudakubana's case; whether anyone had been looking at the overall picture of his risk; and what systemic change might be needed to prevent similar failures. He said the inquiry would also examine his internet activity and purchases of weapons including machetes and archery equipment.

The inquiry heard that Rudakubana's behaviour began to deteriorate rapidly from the start of Year 9, when he was about 13. Teachers at Range High School in Formby reported incidents including hitting other pupils and making comments such as "that's why teachers get murdered" after receiving a detention. He was expelled from mainstream education in October 2019 after admitting he had brought a knife to school saying he "wanted to kill a bully." Later that year he returned and attacked a pupil with a hockey stick while carrying a knife in his backpack; he pleaded guilty to assault and carrying an offensive weapon.

Between 2019 and 2021, teachers referred Rudakubana to Prevent, the government's counter-extremism programme, after they were alarmed by comments he made and by internet searches for "school shootings" and terror attacks. On each occasion, including after a multi-agency meeting that involved officers from MI5, counter-terrorism teams closed the referrals because they found no evidence of a terrorist or domestic extremist ideology, Moss said. During the same period, Lancashire County Council social services opened and closed multiple cases involving him.

Moss said the inquiry would also consider the role of Rudakubana's family and other individuals. He said the teenager had assaulted his father on different occasions, poured milk over him, and threatened him with a knife. The father, Alphonse, had sought help from social workers and mental health services as his son's behaviour became increasingly unmanageable, the inquiry was told.

Dashcam footage played at the hearing showed taxi driver Gary Poland dropping Rudakubana at the dance studio at 11:45 BST on July 29. Seconds later children began to run from the building screaming. The inquiry heard that Poland drove away, picked up another fare and did not call police until 12:46. Police later told the inquiry that Poland expressed remorse and said he had acted out of "complete shock." Poland is expected to give evidence at a later hearing.

Moss also told the inquiry that Rudakubana's father had reported discovering a bow and arrow in his son's bedroom about a week before the attack and had signed for deliveries of machetes his son had ordered online. The extent to which those weapon purchases were identified and acted on by agencies forms part of the inquiry's planned focus.

Sir Adrian Fulford, the inquiry's chairman, said he would do everything "humanly possible" to answer the questions of bereaved families and survivors. The inquiry was established to examine Rudakubana's background, his contact with agencies and any missed opportunities to prevent the attack that prosecutors described when he was convicted as "manifestly and extremely cowardly."

Moss said it was notable that when Rudakubana chose his target he appeared to deliberately attack women and girls by entering the dance studio, though he added that any assessment about motive would be addressed through evidence presented to the inquiry.

The hearing will continue with evidence from a range of professionals and witnesses. It is expected to scrutinise records, inter-agency communications and decision-making processes to establish whether systemic failures allowed risks to go unaddressed in the years before the killings.

The inquiry's findings may lead to recommendations aimed at improving how education, social care, mental health services and counter-extremism agencies share information and manage cases involving young people who pose serious risks to others. It will also assess individual decisions by professionals and whether different action could reasonably have been taken.

Proceedings are expected to run for several months as the inquiry examines documentary evidence and hears testimony from families, school staff, social workers, police and intelligence officers. The inquiry will report publicly on its conclusions and any recommendations to reduce the risk of similar tragedies.