Southport killer’s dad did not report knife fears, inquiry told

The father of the Southport killer failed to report the fact his son tried to take a taxi to his former school with what he suspected was a knife a week before the attacks, a public inquiry heard.

Axel Rudakubana had ordered the taxi to The Range High School in Formby, Merseyside, only for his father Alphonse Rudakubana to “plead” with the driver “don’t take him”.

Mr Rudakubana later admitted he believed his son had a weapon in his backpack at the time, but did not raise the alarm.

The inquiry in the atrocity also heard there was “no evidence” the teenager had any religious, political or ideological motive other than a “fascination” with extreme violence.

The hearing was set up to explore Rudakubana’s history and contact with various agencies before he killed Alice Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, as well as wounding eight other girls and two adults on 29 July 2024.

Sitting at Liverpool Town Hall, it earlier heard evidence from Det Ch Insp Jason Pye, who led the criminal investigation.

Under questioning from lead counsel Nicholas Moss KC, he confirmed the teenager’s online shopping history showed a “pattern and proclivity” towards ordering bladed weapons – including machetes and archery equipment.

Mr Moss said on the morning of 22 July 2024, Rudakubana had asked his father when The Range school broke up for the summer half term.

Mr Rudakubana later told police he checked his phone and told his son it was the final day of term that day, adding: “They will be going off to university now.”

He said his son replied: “Well I won’t be, will I?”

Mr Moss said at 12:45 BST, a taxi arrived at the then Rudakubana family home on Old School Lane in Banks, west Lancashire.

The teenager emerged wearing the same green hoodie – with the hood up – and Covid-style face mask that he would go on to wear a week later in his attack on the dance studio, and was carrying a backpack.

The driver reported that the boy’s father then rushed out of the front door and began “pleading” for him not to take his son.

The teenager then said “I am 18, take me”, the inquiry heard.

The driver said he did not want to “get in the middle of a domestic” and asked Rudakubana to get out, before accepting £5 from his father for his trouble.

That incident was not reported until after the murders, when Mr Rudakubana told police he suspected his son had a knife in the backpack at the time.

The inquiry previously heard Mr Rudakbana told police in 2023 he intercepted a machete his son had ordered online and “hid it on top of a wardrobe”.

Mr Moss said Rudakubana’s parents had previously been advised by child mental health workers to hide knives from their son and the “adequacy” of their response would be explored in the inquiry.

But Det Ch Insp Pye said nothing had been found to suggest they “sympathised with violent attacks or had that mindset”.

He said the inquiry team had analysed hundreds of thousands of messages from both parents which showed no evidence of an interest in extreme violence more generally.

Earlier, the detective was also asked about what the police investigation had found regarding Rudakubana’s personal motivation for the attack.

Det Ch Insp Pye said the question of any motive fitting the definition of terrorism had been “kept under constant review” but was never found.

Mr Moss asked if there was any evidence that the killer had “subscribed to an extreme form of Islam, or Islam at all”.

Det Ch Insp Pye replied: “There wasn’t, and that was something that we kept very open minded about all the way through the investigation.”

He confirmed that Rudakubana had accessed a series of anti-Islamic material including cartoons that would have been “deeply offensive” to anyone of that faith.

The inquiry continues.