Southport killer bought 'ferocious weapon' online

The Southport Inquiry heard from an online knife seller that sold to the killer

The Southport attacker bought a machete with a 16.5 inch blade from a knife retailer that showed "no curiosity" over who was buying its weapons, a public inquiry heard.

Axel Rudakubana purchased the blade online from the Knife Warehouse in October 2023, when he was 17.

Counsel to the inquiry Nicholas Moss KC said the weapon was "named and branded in a way to make it look as ferocious a weapon as possible".

Rudakubana used a kitchen knife bought from Amazon when he carried out the attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 2024, murdering Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine.

Questioning Joseph Wheeler, managing director of the Knife Warehouse, Mr Moss said a machete "with a completely black silhouette, it might be thought, is named and branded in a way to make it look as ferocious a weapon as possible, is that fair?"

Mr Wheeler replied: "Maybe so. I never thought about that at the time or I didn't think of it in that way."

Inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford asked Mr Wheeler if he had "any curiosity at all" about who he was selling knives to, to which Mr Wheeler replied: "I suppose not, sir."

Knife Warehouse director Joseph Wheeler gave evidence at the Southport Inquiry

The inquiry heard that, when purchasing the machete, the killer used a driving licence which belonged to a man who was in his 60s and living in Uxbridge as age verification.

Mr Wheeler said he believed the ID was genuine, and when asked if it "rang alarm bells" that the knife was being delivered to a different address more than 200 miles away, he said he "didn't spot anything or don't remember anything at the time".

The inquiry was shown photos of the package sent to Rudakubana, including a postage label which said "age verification" and "over 18 only".

Packaging

Mr Moss said Royal Mail, who delivered the parcel, had done checks and it appears the package was received by Rudakubana's father, Alphonse.

The packaging did not advise that it contained a bladed item, which Mr Moss said was a legal requirement at the time.

He asked: "You did not meet your legal duty in that respect in terms of the delivery, would you agree?"

Mr Wheeler replied: "Well this is the first time I have seen this parcel but it appears not to be on there, yes."

He said the business, based in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, had probably sold more than 100 machetes in 2023, but no longer stocked them.

He also said it now asked customers for proof of address as well as ID when verifying that they were over 18.