Southport killer's dad 'wanted concerns kept quiet'

Axel Rudakubana went on to murder three children at a dance class in 2024

The father of the Southport killer asked a social worker not to share information with the youth offending team, the public inquiry into the stabbings has heard.

Axel Rudakubana, then 17, killed three children at a Taylor Swift themed dance workshop on 29 July 2024 despite years of concerns being raised to various agencies.

The Southport Inquiry, sitting at Liverpool Town Hall, has been hearing evidence about the involvement of social services in the teenager's life in the years leading up to the attack.

His father Alphonse Rudakubana had sent a WhatsApp message to the worker asking them not to share information that could "turn our family upside down", the hearing was told.

The message was sent in November 2020 to a member of the Child and Family Wellbeing Service in Lancashire, which ran an early help team which families could voluntarily seek support from.

At the time Rudakubana was also working with the Lancashire Youth Offending Team (YOT) as part of his sentence for attacking a pupil at Range High School in Formby with a hockey stick, in December 2019.

The inquiry has heard Rudakubana's father believed the Youth Offending Team were intent on "punishing Axel"

Rudakubana had been ordered to complete a 10-month referral order by Liverpool Youth Court over that assault, which came a few weeks after he was expelled from Range for admitting taking knives into school.

In the WhatsApp message, Alphonse Rudakubana had raised concerns about the sharing of his family's personal information.

He said: "Not to say that there is something sinister, but because it is not necessary."

He said the family expected a "high degree of confidentiality and sensitivity" from the early help service.

He added: "Axel can trust you and say stuff as a child but we don't expect you to record or share some information with others that can turn our family upside down."

Mr Rudakubana said he did not understand why the YOT, which he described as "in charge of punishing Axel", was involved in an assessment report.

He said: "Please don't involve them any more."

'Very light touch'

Sarah Callon, senior manager for Lancashire Youth Justice Services, told he inquiry the message was "surprising".

The inquiry heard social worker John Fitzpatrick, from the YOT, attended the Rudakubana family home in Banks, Lancashire, twice in September 2020.

On the first occasion the teenager refused to speak to him because he was angry that his father had cut the grass over the grave of his pet hamster.

Mr Fitzpatrick noted that he would not issue a warning about breaching the terms of the referral order due to Rudakubana's autism.

Nicholas Moss KC, lead counsel to the inquiry, said: "On reflection, there is a pattern here of treating AR very generously and being very light touch?"

Ms Callon said: "I think what we would have expected to see on the records is further contacts."

A note from the second visit, when Rudakubana refused to speak to the social worker for a second time, recorded: "Axel has autism and this seems to be how he deals with his emotions."

Ms Callon said the social workers were "not experts" in autism.

The inquiry heard that during a final referral order visit, in January 2021, Rudakubana told Mr Fitzpatrick his father had hit him.

Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar were killed in the 29 July 2024 attack

It was recorded that this had happened after Rudakubana threatened to break his father's laptop and kicked him.

As a result Mr Rudakubana, said to be "very remorseful", was advised that social care did not support physical chastisement.

In February 2021, Mr Fitzpatrick received an email saying Rudakubana had been referred to the government's counter-extremism service Prevent.

He replied saying Rudakubana had been closed to the YOT.

When asked about that response, Ms Callon said: "I would have expected more professional curiosity, requesting more information."

Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were murdered by Rudakubana - while eight other children and two adults were seriously wounded.

The inquiry continues.