Southport killer’s teacher ‘dreaded’ what he might do

A teacher at the private school in Southport where the killer was sent after being expelled told the inquest how she had a “visceral feeling of dread” that he would use a knife at school.

Joanne Hodson, of The Acorns School in Lancashire, told a public inquiry that she felt staff were “holding the baby” because other institutions “disappeared” when she pleaded for help with Axel Rudakubana’s disruptive behaviour.

Miss Hodson, now headteacher at the Ormskirk school, said: “I felt like something was going to happen and, as with other pupils, there was a level of uneasiness about direct challenges to staff.

“It felt like it was building and building and building every day.”

Rudakubana, then 17, killed six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar and attempted to kill eight other children and two adults at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29 last year.

The Southport Inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall heard that Childine was expelled from mainstream education at The Range High School in Formby in October 2019 after she called and told the call handler that she had taken a knife to school.

When Ms Hodson asked why he was carrying a knife at his old school, he described his “unforgettable” first admissions meeting with him at The Acorns.

He said: “He looked me in the eye and said ‘use it’.

“This is the first time in my career that a student has said this to me or acted so unapologetically.

“What surprised me was this: [his] Parents did not shy away from this comment.”

Ms Hodson said her parents believed she took the knife to school in response to bullying.

He told the inquest: “He and his parents viewed him as the victim of the incident rather than the perpetrator.”

He said Rudakubana was the “most extraordinary” student he had encountered in his career.

“There was a sinister undertone and rapport was difficult to establish,” he wrote in a statement.

“He had no respect for authority and had no respect for other students and staff in general.”

The inquest was heard in December 2019; While he was enrolled at The Acorns, Range returned to his school and attacked another student with a hockey stick while carrying a knife in his backpack.

Bail conditions following his arrest meant he could not return to The Acorns until a “multi-agency risk assessment” was carried out.

Ms Hodson said she had “very significant” concerns about the risk she would pose to other students and staff if she returned.

But he felt resistance from other institutions, saying: “I felt like they were all backing down and passing the risk onto us, their solution was ‘you’ve got to take it back’.”

“The police walked away, social services said they didn’t think there was a risk and we literally left the baby in our arms.”

He recalled a meeting attended by the specialist Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (FCAMHS), designed for young people considered to be at risk of harming others.

At that meeting FCAMHS nurse John Hicklin commented on placing a £5 bet on anyone who could guess what Rudakubana would do next.

Ms Hodson said she felt “huddled together” at that meeting and that she and her school were left to deal with the problem on their own.

He said that from January 2021 onwards, Rudakubana became concerned that his father was afraid of his son and that he had “lost control”.

The investigation continues.