Elliot Burrin
Live reporter

The older brother of the Southport killer today gave evidence in the public inquiry into the 2024 attack, in which three young girls were killed.

Appearing on video link, Dion Rudakubana said he was "increasingly wary" of Axel's "violent outbursts".

Here's what else we heard from him:

• By 2022, he seriously feared his brother would kill a family member "if things escalated"
• The brothers stopped speaking to each other in 2023
• When asked if he agreed that his parents had "lost control" of his brother, he replied: "Erm, yes"
• His brother became significantly more violent after being expelled from his high school in 2019

Earlier, the inquiry heard that the killer had possibly viewed violent material on X minutes before the attack.

A senior X executive defended the importance of free speech on the app, saying that X would not limit individual rights.

The inquiry has adjourned for the day, and we will shortly be ending our coverage - but we'll be back tomorrow morning as Dion continues to give evidence.

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Dion says his brother "never spoke to me" directly about being bullied, saying that he heard about it from his father.

He adds that he didn’t see any bullying of AR with his own eyes.

Chairman Sir Adrian Fulford then calls an end to the day's proceedings.

Dion Rudakubana, brother of the Southport killer, will resume giving his evidence from 09:45 GMT on Wednesday.

We'll shortly bring you a recap of what was heard at the inquiry today - stick with us.

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Had Dion seen any evidence that AR was bullied at school, Richard Boyle asks.

He responds saying that at some point after February 2019, while AR was in year 8 at the Range High School, he became aware that his brother was being bullied.

Dion says he remembers his father speaking to a teacher about it quite frequently after school, saying that his father had brought up the bullying on behalf of his brother.

He confirms that after AR was expelled, he heard from other pupils that it was widely known in his year group he was being bullied.

Boyle says that the Range staff "strongly denied" a comment in Dion's statement suggesting "there were a lot of trouble-makers" in that school.

The teacher said Dion continued to stay at the school after AR was expelled.

"It's not relevant to the troublemakers, I don't know what extent of trouble there would have to be for me to leave,” Dion says. “It was never sufficient for me to leave."

The school also denied AR was subjected to a "systematic pattern" of bullying.

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Boyle moves on to ask Dion about his brother's capacity for empathy, which he says seemed to reduce over time.

In his earlier statement, Dion referred to his brother as reminding him of a character in the film No County for Old Men.

"Yeah I think I've been told that character's meant to be a sociopath, and that's why I used the word there," he says.

He agrees that from around 2021 AR would "dominate the living room" and he would avoid it.

Dion says the last interaction he had with his brother was in summer 2023.

Richard Boyle asks Dion to confirm that on that occasion their parents asked AR to say goodbye to him as he was leaving to see his friends, and in response AR "threw a bottle at you".

Dion says he had closed the door before the bottle hit.

"At the time this wasn't a particularly significant event other than it being the last interaction," he tells the inquiry.

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Dion Rudakubana says his parents were looking for outside services to help his brother.

Richard Boyle, one of the counsel to the inquiry, pulls up some records from Lancashire County Council, dated 18 August 2021.

It refers to AR telling a social worker his dad "hits eight-year-olds and hits Dion". When asked, AR confirmed he was referring to himself when he was aged eight.

The records referred to Dion telling the social worker that they would get a "smacked bottom for being naughty" when they were younger, but he had no concerns about his dad and had not been hit recently.

Dion tells the inquiry around that time, AR had read some articles by educational psychologists which suggested physically striking children could traumatise them, and that he felt "very wronged" by being smacked as a young boy.

Boyle says in his statement, AR and Dion’s father, Alphonse, said he had sometimes smacked the boys when they were little and when they were fighting each other.

Boyle asks: "Would you agree your parents had lost control of AR?"

"Erm, yes,” Dion replies.

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Dion is asked about how much he knew about his brother's contact with mental health or police services.

Dion replies he "covered his ears" when discussions were going on "because I didn't want to hear it".

Boyle asks how his parents reacted to AR's violent behaviour.

"It was always shocking. I think it was the fear that marked all of these," he says.

"It was always a response to a quite trying situation, so it didn't make sense to try and punish him. Also, there was a heavy risk in doing so."

Dion clarifies that he means AR was "not just being naughty” but was struggling to manage situations.

"I don't know what punishment would have looked like...we said there was a general risk to life in general conversation, if you try to confront him...it wouldn't be responded to well," he says

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Boyle refers to a message Dion R sent to a friend when he was visiting home from university in 2022.

The message talked about AR becoming annoyed by him speaking late at night because of the thin walls.

DR suggested that if AR became violent "too much damage would be caused by my dad trying to restrain him".

He also told his friend there was a risk of "him doing something potentially fatal".

He said: "The fights are scary because of the danger of someone dying."

By that point, in 2022, Dion said he believed his brother had tried to stab his father before, adding that he was not sure.

Boyle then asks: "By this time you had a serious fear that your brother would kill a member of your family?"

"If things escalated to that point", he replies.

DR says he never thought to tell anyone about that fear "because things had been growing gradually".

"There was no point of alarm to go and report it."

He adds that he was away from the family home a lot whilst at university.

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Dion Rudakubana tells the inquiry AR's behaviour became significantly more violent after he was expelled from Range High School in Formby, Merseyside, in October 2019.

He said: "It opened up to everyone in the house and things are basically getting smashed."

Mr Boyle asked: "Did that continue on all the way through until 2024?"

Dion Rudakubana said there were periods of improvement in 2020, but then "progressively got worse again".

He said after he left for university in 2022, AR spoke to him less "because he was not familiar with having me around", and by 2023 that had gone to "nothing".

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Dion Rudakubana was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disorder at the age of 12 which led to him becoming a wheelchair user, and led to his parents him helping more.

Mr Boyle asked if that changed his relationship with his brother, who the inquiry is referring to as AR.

“There was tension that came about," he said.

"Up until that age he got more attention than I did because he was younger than me, so there was a change in focus around that time.”

He agreed that AR appeared to resent this change.

Dion Rudakubana confirmed that after the move to Southport, AR's mood appeared to deteriorate, particularly when he moved from primary school to Range High School in Formby.

He said AR would become "despondent" and have "violent outbursts".

"You were worried he would try and hit you?" Mr Boyle asked.

"His frustration was a result of his lower mood...but yeah I was concerned because he was bigger...physically larger and it would hurt more."

Dion Rudakubana agreed that he became "increasingly wary" of his brother, who would hit him regularly.

He said he did not recall AR being violent to his parents before he was expelled from Range High School in 2019.

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Dion Rudakubana is being questioned by Richard Boyle, a member of counsel to the inquiry.

He is asked if his parents ever spoke of their experiences in the Rwandan genocide, which caused them to seek asylum in the UK.

He replies: “Particular stories, I guess, slowly accumulated over time from 12, 14 years.”

He is asked if those stories had an impact on their family life.

“My parents used discretion in telling us, things were left out until we were older,” he explains.

“I wouldn’t say I was traumatised by them, but I emotionally engaged with them.”

Mr Boyle asks about what it was like growing up with his younger brother Axel.

Mr Rudakubana says their conversations were “intense” and “more involved”, likely due to them both being autistic.

He said his brother would hit him, but in hindsight “that was not unusual for primary school aged boys”.

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Dion Rudakubana has taken the oath by swearing on the Bible.

He is appearing on a video link from a remote location, and his image is not being broadcast.

He confirms that a statement he gave to police is accurate, but is not in chronological order and "lacked nuance".

He agrees this is likely the case because he is autistic.

Dion Rudakubana left the family home in 2022 to attend university.

He confirms he moved to Southport from Cardiff in 2013, when his father Alphonse secured a job as a taxi driver.

Ian Shoesmith
BBC News

Reporting restrictions mean the media are legally prevented from publishing any photograph or voice recording of Dion Rudakubana.

Journalists are also not allowed to publish any details of his location, education, or workplace.

Ian Shoesmith
BBC News

After a longer than anticipated adjournment, proceedings have now resumed at Liverpool Town Hall

Dion Rudakubana is now giving evidence to the public inquiry set up to examine his brother's fatal attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on 29 July 2024.

Ian Shoesmith
BBC News

The hearing is about to resume at Liverpool Town Hall - technical arrangements have been made to allow the Southport attacker's brother to give evidence remotely.

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Ms Khananisho is then questioned by William Chapman, counsel to the families of the three murdered girls.

Mr Chapman asks about how the algorithm serves content to its users, and whether an interest in violence would cause X to offer up more violent content.

Ms Khananisho says she does not know.

She also says she is unaware of any research into the link between online and real-world violence.

That completes Ms Khananisho's evidence, and she is thanked by chairman Sir Adrian Fulford.

There will now be a short break of about 20 minutes while a technical arrangements are made for Axel Rudakubana's brother, Dion Rudakubana, to give evidence remotely.

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Mr Moss asks the senior X executive whether "you can understand the level of anger and dismay" from the families of the victims to learn that the Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel video was viewed by AR six minutes before leaving home... and that X had refused to remove it.

Ms Khananisho replies: "Of course."

And she adds: "The importance of free speech is literally the stronghold of all our governments, all of democracy and everything we should stand for as a people."

She refers to her own background as the daughter of immigrants from an oppressed country.

"Every single day bad things happen; every single day attacks happen," she said.

And she insisted X would not limit individual rights to provide "some level of false safety".

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Mr Moss said that TikTok and Meta had attempted to block uploads of the April 2024 Australian bishop stabbing video that AR watched shortly before setting off from home to carry out the Southport attack.

He suggests X "double-downed" while other platforms attempted to limit the video's reach.

Ms Khananisho repeats that X has "far less" children on their platform than other similar companies.

"We are an anti-censorship company, so anything out there is going to be looked at through that lens."

She adds: "We are proud to be an outlier and we're proud to be the defenders of free speech globally."

Mr Moss points out to her that X "had AR as a child" and asks: "Surely that was quite sobering for any responsible organisation?"

Ms Khananisho says she wasn't personally part of any discussions about what actions were taken.

However she adds: "Taking the God-given right of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of expression from the masses because of the very few that have committed horrendous crimes is not something that we take very lightly."

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Mr Moss suggests some "outside observers" might think that AR's viewing of the video before launching a "murderous attack" was the "nightmare scenario" for X.

He asks whether she "really can't tell" the inquiry whether it had prompted any reflection within X.

She responds: "You're assuming that when every heinous crime is committed that anybody who has looked at something on our platform, that that was some level of trigger."

Mr Moss says that while X was not legally compelled to take the video down, it could have done so as a matter of policy or, "some might say, decency".

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Mr Moss reminds Ms Khananisho of the seriousness of the public inquiry - and outlines how it was prompted by the deaths of three children and the grievous injuries suffered by the surviving victims.

He asks if the fact that AR searched for the video of the stabbing six minutes before leaving home to kill children "concerned you or the corporation".

Ms Khananisho replies: "I don't know that I can speak to the reasoning behind why he would look for a video like that; I see the video in a very different way than somebody else does.

"And so for me to make an assumption that he was looking for that video to conduct a heinous attack, I mean I am not a criminologist or a psychologist and nor is anybody at the company."

Jonny Humphries
BBC News

Mr Moss states that the Southport Inquiry had asked X to disclose a number of accounts believed to have been used by the attacker, who is referred to during the hearings by his initials, AR.

Ms Khananisho says she is not aware of the full details, but the inquiry heard X had identified four accounts linked to AR's emails and phone number.

One was deactivated in 2021, two in 2023 and one on the day of the attack on 29 July 2024.

However, X did not provide details of messages sent by or to those accounts.

Mr Moss says X wrote to the inquiry last night and said due to a data entry error it had mistakenly missed three other accounts used by AR.

Mr Moss points out that Meta, the rival social media company that owns Facebook and Instagram, had provided content data.

Mr Khananisho says she is not aware of the differences, and that information can be provided later by X's legal team.

Mr Moss says that on one of the accounts, X was able to find out what date of birth Rudakubana entered, but that it had not yet been provided to the inquiry.

She says she is not sure why this is the case, adding: "The legal space is not my space."