Southport families vow to fight on as police issue major update | Politics | News
The Southport atrocity sparked outrage across the country (Image: PA)
The law needs to be changed so the parents of Southport monster Axel Rudakubana can face a police probe after an inquiry blamed them for failing to stop the atrocity, campaigners have declared.
Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire knew their son was hoarding knives, had been making poison in his room and had a sick obsession with violence.
And the Southport Inquiry chairman, Sir Adrian Fulford, in a scathing assessment, revealed how they ignored their son’s determination to carry out an attack.
Rudakubana, then 17, killed Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9 at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29, 2024 and attempted to murder 10 others.
Read more: Nigel Farage warns of financial catastrophe over migrant chaos
Read more: British Armed Forces will NOT join Donald Trump’s blockade of Strait of Hormuz
Their families have previously called for Rudakubana’s parents to be “held to account” for their son’s crimes.
The inquiry chairman spelt out how the attack would not have happened if the killer’s parents had done “what they morally ought to have done.”.
In a report published yesterday, Sir Adrian described the “complete abandonment of responsibility” by the killer’s mother and father as “utterly unconscionable”.
He said he was “strongly critical of the moral failure of [Rudakubana’s] parents to warn the authorities about [his] weapons and what I find was their fatalistic approach to the risks that Rudakubana posed of violence to others”.
He recommended that a legal duty be established requiring parents, legal guardians, or bystanders to report criminal activity.
In Sir Adrian’s report, comprised of two volumes with a total of 763 pages, he said there was a “fundamental failure” by any organisation, or multi-agency arrangement, to take ownership of the risk Rudakubana posed.
It highlighted five areas of systematic failure, including a misunderstanding of autism, a lack of oversight of his online activity, and an absence of any agency accepting responsibility for Rudakubana.
Sir Keir Starmer promised to make “fundamental changes” to keep the public safe in the wake of these “harrowing” findings.
There are currently no offences that would allow police to charge someone if they fail to turn a potential criminal in to officers.
And Merseyside Police said in a statement: “As outlined today as part of a recommendation contained within the Southport Inquiry report, there is no current legal duty on bystanders and/or parents to warn or report criminality.
“Following an extensive investigation, and after analysing information provided to the Southport Inquiry, we have concluded there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction.
“The criminal investigation has therefore concluded and no charges will be brought.”
Shadow Home Office minister Alicia Kearns said: “The Southport Inquiry has shown beyond doubt Axel Rudakubana’s parents failed in their responsibilities.
“The police must closely examine the Inquiry’s conclusions and consider if criminal charges should be brought.
“Two years on and the Government has still not acted on the extremely clear recommendation given by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation: Introduce a new offence of an individual planning a mass casualty attack without terrorist motivation.
“Whilst nothing can heal the pain caused by Rudakubana, this offence would give police the powers to disrupt and properly charge future would be imitators.”
Chris Walker, solicitor representing the bereaved families of the three girls, said of the parents: “He had not left the house for two years except when armed or seeking to cause harm, yet they allowed him to leave on that day knowing he was likely carrying a weapon.
“This fight does not end today.
“We call for immediate action, clear accountability and real change – not simply reassurances that ‘lessons have been learned’.
“The public deserves systems capable of identifying escalating risk, protecting the vulnerable and preventing acts of mass violence. We, alongside our clients, will continue to push for that change until it is achieved.”
The inquiry concluded the sick teen’s parents, police, mental health services, council chiefs and Prevent all failed to intervene properly, despite glaring signs of the risk Rudakubana posed.
Axel Rudakubana will spend the rest of his life behind bars, it is believed (Image: -)
Sir Adrian found that Alphonse Rudakubana turned a “blind eye” to the weapons deliveries because he wanted “to avoid confrontation” with his violent son, who he prevented from attacking a school a week before the Southport massacre.
In a damning assessment, Sir Adrian concluded: “If Alphonse R had acted more responsibly on 15 July 2024, he could – and should – have intercepted the large knives that AR had ordered, one of which he went on to use in the murders and attempted murders on 29 July 2024.
“AR’s parents knew that he had ordered at least one large knife. They knew that on 22 July 2024 he had planned to attack Range High School and believed that he had a knife. They then saw that he had other weapons hidden in his room and a suspicious substance. They saw at least one empty knife package when AR had left the house on the day of the attack. They reported none of this.”
His mother, Ms Muzayire, even went back to bed, Sir Adrian said, after hearing Axel had left the house on the morning of the attack.
They dismissed fears of him carrying out a knife rampage – less than a week after preventing him from attacking a school – as the teenager going out for a walk.
Sir Adrian added: “I unhesitatingly conclude that Alphonse R and Laetitia M knew they should immediately have called the police when the knife packaging was found in the washing machine, yet they once again failed to take appropriate action.
“The very first question that must have occurred to each of them was “where is the knife that had been inside the packaging (prior to the latter being hidden in the washing machine)?”
Both Mr Rudakubana and Axel’s brother Dion, as soon as they heard about an atrocity in Southport, feared it had been committed by their relative.
Sir Adrian said police officers could have arrested Rudakubana before he got into a taxi had his parents dialled 999 as soon as he left.
He added: “I have no doubt that the attack would then have been averted, given AR would have been searched, found to be in possession of a knife and arrested.
“AR’s parents could and should have followed AR, watched him, seen him waiting outside and stopped the taxi from taking AR to Hart Street, thereafter informing the police.”
The probe revealed how Mr Rudakubana even tried to blame their son’s school for his hockey stick attack on another student.
Rudakubana’s parents also justified his history of carrying weapons and Alphonse became so aggressive towards a psychiatrist the expert refused to treat the teenager.
The parents repeatedly blocked the authorities because they were so concerned their violent son would be taken away from them, the inquiry found.
This led to them hiding information from the authorities, including that he was building up his own arsenal of weapons.
And in the days before the attack, they realised he was planning to carry out an atrocity, the inquiry found.
The judge added: “AR’s family bear significant responsibility for failing to alert any appropriate agency whatsoever to the full extent of the risk of a serious or fatal attack by their son. “
In his report, setting out 67 recommendations, Sir Adrian said there was a “fundamental failure” by every organisation, or multi-agency arrangement, to take ownership of the risk Rudakubana posed.
