Rhianan Rudd: State contributed to girl's death, inquest hears

Rhianan Rudd had been identified as a victim of grooming and sexual exploitation

The UK state "contributed" to the death of a teenager who took her own life after being groomed by a far-right extremist and arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, an inquest heard.

Rhianan Rudd, 16, was found dead in a children's home on 19 May last year.

She had been detained about 18 months earlier for downloading a bomb-making manual.

A BBC investigation found MI5 had received evidence she had been groomed and sexually exploited.

Withdrawn prosecution

A pre-inquest review hearing at Chesterfield Coroner's Court on Tuesday heard Rhianan - who moved to Derbyshire from Essex in 2012, and at the time of her death was studying for her GCSEs at a residential home in Nottinghamshire - was charged with various offences in April 2021.

The teenager, who had autism, was due to stand trial in March 2022, but charges were dropped in December 2021 after evidence emerged she had been groomed by American extremist Christopher Cook.

Jesse Nicholls, representing Rhianan's family, said while "consideration was given" to whether the teenager was a victim of sexual exploitation, a referral order was only made in August 2021 by a social worker, despite police and MI5 knowing she was a victim for almost a year.

"Rhianan was aware for over a year that she was being prosecuted for serious criminal offences at a time when she was 14 years old and a victim of child sexual exploitation," Mr Nicholls said.

"In continuing to investigate and prosecute, and not withdraw the prosecution, the state contributed to Rhianan's death.

"If Rhianan had been identified as a victim earlier and had Rhianan been signposted to appropriate support, her death could have been avoided."

Rhianan was studying for her GCSEs at the time of her death

Claire Palmer, representing Derbyshire Police, told the court police began investigating Rhianan in September 2020 after she was referred to anti-radicalisation scheme Prevent by her mother.

When she was arrested in October 2020, Rhianan was "at some degree, in crisis", and was interviewed about her sexual exploitation, but did not believe she was a victim.

Ms Palmer said: "By the time police became involved, Rhianan was sadly already radicalised.

"What the police found was a vulnerable, complex young lady where there were very serious issues."

Another hearing has been scheduled for 19 September, with an inquest due to start on 19 February.

Peter Nieto, area coroner for Derby and Derbyshire, said: "There is obviously quite a lot to understand about what may have been on Rhianan's mind at the time she took her own life and what issues might have affected her decision-making leading up to her death."

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