Southport killer’s parents ‘bear considerable blame’ for ‘preventable’ attack, damning report finds
The parents of a Southport killer bear significant blame for a deadly mass stabbing attack that could and should have been prevented, according to a new report.
A bombshell report from the Southport Inquiry has revealed a series of missed opportunities to stop violence-obsessed teenager Axel Rudakubana before he launched his “unparalleled cruelty” attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop on July 29, 2024. The horrific stabbing claimed the lives of three children and injured eight more girls and two adults, sparking riots across the country.
Chairman Sir Adrian Fulford concluded that “this terrible incident could and should have been prevented”. He said it was “almost certain” the tragedy would have been stopped if the killer’s family had shared the full extent of their concerns with authorities by late July 2024.
He also placed the blame at the door of the multiple institutions that allowed Rudakubana to fall from grace, noting that the killer’s “push towards serious violence has been repeatedly and clearly marked.”
In the damning 763-page report, Sir Adrian found:
- There was a “fundamental failure” by any organization to take responsibility for managing the “serious risks” from Rudakubana, he said, adding that police twice missed the opportunity to arrest him for carrying a knife
- Opportunities to intervene have been missed over the years, with parents and other agencies warning that some measures were “ineffective or underutilized” while others were “completely unsuccessful”.
- Rudakubana’s “highly problematic behavior was too often excused based on his perceived or diagnosed autism spectrum disorder.”
- After spending most of his waking hours “completely unsupervised” online, the killer “became ever more obsessed with extreme violence” and watched increasingly disturbing content.
- ‘Major parental failures’ concealed key information from authorities in days leading up to attack and allowed knives and guns to be delivered to his home
Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, were killed when Rudakubana, then 17, entered Hart Space with a knife in the summer of 2024. He also attempted to kill eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class teacher Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes. The 19-year-old, who was referred to as “perpetrator” or “AR” during the hearings out of respect for the victims and their families, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 52 years.
The inquest, which was held over nine weeks at Liverpool City Hall last year, heard from more than 100 witnesses, 67 of whom gave live evidence about issues such as Rudakubana’s involvement with health services, social care and education, and three referrals to counter-terrorism program Prevent, which were made and shut down before carrying out the attack. Home Affairs Minister Yvette Cooper announced the investigation in January 2025 after Rudakubana’s contact with these various agencies was revealed.
In a statement at Liverpool City Hall as the report was published, Sir Adrian said: “I have no doubt that if appropriate procedures had been in place and sensible steps had been taken by the institutions and AR’s parents, this terrible incident would not have happened. “It could have happened and should have been prevented.”
He continued: “AR’s descent into serious violence has been repeatedly and clearly marked. But the systems and institutions responsible for protecting the public have not acted with the necessary cohesion, urgency or clarity.”
Commenting on the parent’s approach to the teenager, whom he described as “aggressive, almost completely reclusive”, he added: “If the full extent of AR’s family’s concerns had been shared with the authorities in late July 2024, including on the day of the attack, it is almost certain that this tragedy would have been prevented.”
Sir Adrian acknowledged Rudakubana had put his family in an “extremely difficult situation”.
“Given that AR has turned into a monster, in his father’s words, their life at home must have turned into a nightmare,” the President said.
But it found that the couple Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire “created significant barriers” to interaction with him by various agencies, failed to challenge his behavior and set boundaries, and also failed to report a clear increase in his risk.
He said: “If AR’s parents had done what they morally should have done, AR would not have had the freedom to carry out the attack and therefore the attack would not have happened.”
But he said it should be “clear” to those in a position to take action that Rudakubana “was not effectively parentified”.
Rudakubana’s parents, who moved to the UK from Rwanda, also gave evidence to the inquest from further afield.
His mother told the hearing: “There are many things Alphonse and I wish we had done differently that would have prevented the terrible event of July 29, 2024. We are deeply sorry for our failure.”
Sir Adrian said Rudakubana “made clear the extreme danger he posed to others” four years before the attack when he went to his former school, Range High School in Formby, with a kitchen knife and a hockey stick and attacked a pupil.
The inquiry’s chairman said the incident in December 2019, when the teenager received a 10-month referral order, was a “landmark incident” and should have led institutions to conclude he was a “high risk of harming others”.
During the investigation between 2019 and 2024, Rudakubana was directed to the anti-terrorism program Prevent three times, but the referrals were closed. He bought several weapons, including three machetes, and the materials he used to make the ricin poison online.
Sir Adrian said that as time went on, the interaction between Rudakubana and the organizations became “a token thing at best”.
The Chairperson suggested that the second stage of the investigation should consider a single agency or body appointed to monitor interventions for children at high risk of serious harm. Their ability to restrict or monitor high-risk children’s access to the internet also needs to be considered, he said.
The Prime Minister has promised that the government will act on the inquiry’s 67 recommendations before the findings are published.
Asked whether organizations should be held accountable, Sir Keir Starmer told reporters: “There must be accountability, there must always be accountability.
“The first important thing is to look at what these recommendations are, what needs to change, and be a government that says ‘we will carry this, we will do what we say’; we promised this and when we promise we will follow through on it.”
Sir Adrian, who called the attack “one of the most horrific crimes” in British history when he opened the hearings, said the obligation was to respond to victims and their families.
Speaking ahead of the report’s release, solicitor Nicola Brook of Broudie Jackson Canter, who represented Ms Lucas, Mr Hayes and another adult survivor, Heidi Liddle, said: “Examining the extensive list of failings revealed at the first stage of the investigation has provoked an understandably complex mix of emotions for our clients who are struggling with the day-to-day consequences of survivor guilt.
“We hope that the report will expose all the organizations that failed to take timely action to prevent this devastating attack, and demonstrate to the public that the organizations found to be at fault are determined not only to learn their lesson, but to take every step to prevent such an atrocity from happening again.”
The widespread riots and civil unrest that broke out across the country in the wake of the murders were not examined.
The second phase of the investigation will build on the findings of the first phase and is expected to focus on the risk posed by young people obsessed or obsessed with acts of extreme violence.
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