Southport killer was known to services that failed – as former social worker warns over ‘holes in the system’
When the police arrived at the scene of horror in Southport last summer, the teenager holding the knife was someone they had been called about many times before.
From the age of 13, Axel Rudakubana had been on the radar of police, safeguarding services, mental health teams and Prevent, the counterterrorism programme.
Axel Rudakubana pictured several years ago
His obsession with mass murder was known about. The risk he posed was clear.
Yet there was nothing to stop him going to a dance class, murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and attempting to murder many more.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Our lives went with them – he took us too’
The timeline of contact with the authorities reveals Rudakubana had not slipped through the net – he was in the system. It failed.
The public inquiry that will now take place needs to examine why.
‘Limited options for social workers’
Dr Ciaran Murphy, a former social worker and member of the Association of Child Protection Professionals, believes services designed to protect children are now facing more cases where children are themselves the risk.
“That’s an area where we need to evolve,” he said. “There’s an increasing occurrence of referrals being made in which parents are afraid of their children in terms of violence and mental health.”
Dr Ciaran Murphy
He said options for social workers are limited. “You’d still be thinking about the child protection plan, you’d still be thinking about a strategy meeting,” he said. “But ultimately, social workers cannot detain children.
“The obvious answers are multi-agency communication, multi-agency work, particularly with the police and programmes like Prevent. But then when you do that, you start to see some of the holes in the system.”
“In extreme cases, they can apply for a secure order for a child in which a child is placed in secure accommodation,” Dr Murphy explained, but he said they are “very difficult to obtain, partly because it’s so costly, partly because it’s so draconian”.
The orders have to be granted by the family courts and only apply to children under the age of 16.
Rudakubana’s multiple contact with police
The police were first alerted to Rudakubana when he took a knife into school in 2019. It led to his exclusion, and referrals to the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
But he returned to the school months later with a knife in his bag and attacked a pupil with a hockey stick. He pleaded guilty to assault and a youth referral order was imposed.
Between 2019 and 2021 he was referred three times to Prevent. The first referral was for researching school shootings during an IT class. Another referral was made when a teacher found he’d been reading about the London Bridge terror attack. However, he was not deemed a terrorism risk.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Southport attack: ‘Investigation not yet over’
Between 2019 and 2023 he received mental health care at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust but “stopped engaging” in February of that year.
In 2021, Rudabukana was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Later that year, following reports of incidents at home, he stopped attending school.
In 2022, his mother reported him missing and police found him on a bus carrying a knife. Officers were called by the driver because he was refusing to pay. He was returned home and his mother was given advice on how to secure knives.
Four of the calls to the police about him in the years before the attack were made by his own parents.
Read more:
Rudakubana received second longest sentence in history – No 10
Attorney general to review ‘unduly lenient’ sentence
‘They often don’t fit into any particular box’
Dr Duncan Harding
Dr Duncan Harding, a consultant adolescent forensic psychiatrist, said “a case like this just highlights how systems have to be made as robust as possible, to try and pick up people who perhaps are acting in a lone way with extreme ideologies. Perhaps ideologies don’t fit into any particular box”.
“Working with young people, who present with perhaps mental health difficulties, perhaps neurodiversity, criminal behaviours. I’ve worked with many young people who fit into that category, and they often don’t fit into any particular box. What that can mean is that they might fall under the threshold of any one particular service.”
He added: “I think that when something dreadful happens, when something absolutely dreadful happens that shakes society in this way, we have to look at the systems, we have to look at things like thresholds.”
There is consensus that more should have been done to stop Rudakubana.
Finding the cracks in a system that failed will be the task of the public inquiry.
Immigration was the first thing on the government’s agenda to kick off the first week back from recess, and they wanted you to know it.
The home secretary gave an update to the House, announcing a shakeup of family reunion rules for asylum seekers, even before some backbenchers had made it back to parliament from their break.
Facing criticism for being on the back foot after a summer of protest outside asylum hotels, they were keen to defend their record and get back on track – but is it too late?
It’s a clear nod to the political void Reform UK has seized on while the prime minister has been on holiday.
Last week, Nigel Farage unveiled his party’s mass deportation policy – though the issue of women and children still seems to be worked out.
But perhaps none of that matters as voters overwhelmingly believe Reform cares about this issue – and as Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, pointed out on Monday, voters have lost confidence in the government somewhat to solve what many see as an immigration crisis on their doorstep.
So it’s clear the strategy has changed from the government.
Read more:
Starmer’s ‘Mr Fixit’ is likely to be a recipe for conflict
Tories call for investigation into Angela Rayner
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Substantial reforms are needed now’
Gone are the bold slogans of “smashing the gangs” and instead, detail and policy was given on Monday. It was nothing new, but more substance on what the government has done and where they want to move to. Even controversially, reassessing their relationship with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The biggest update though, was on their one-in-one-out policy agreement with France, which will now set to start returns later this month.
It’s finally hit home for the government that the public want proof not just rhetoric, and they want to know crucially when they will start to see change.
But the fightback, the reset, whatever the government wants to call it, will only make a difference once that finally starts to work.
Police are asking for help with an unsolved case, 52 years after the murder of a schoolboy in Belfast.
Brian McDermott was 10 when he disappeared from Ormeau Park on Sunday 2 September 1973. His remains were recovered from the River Lagan almost a week later.
Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Legacy Investigation Branch have given a timeline of events as part of their appeal.
Brian left his home on Well Street in the lower Woodstock Road area of east Belfast at around 12.30pm and failed to return for his Sunday dinner.
Detectives said he was last seen playing alone in the playground between 1pm and 3pm that afternoon.
His remains were recovered in the water, close to the Belfast Boat Club.
Read more from Sky News:
Union issues warning over schools
Premier League’s record-breaking transfer window
River Lagan, where the remains of schoolboy Brian McDermott were recovered. Pic: PSNI handout/PA
A PSNI spokesperson said: “We are acutely aware of the pain and suffering that Brian’s family continue to feel, and our thoughts very much remain with the family at this time.
“Despite the passage of time, this murder case has never been closed and I am hopeful that someone may be able to provide information, no matter how small, which may open a new line of inquiry, or add a new dimension to information already available.
“It is also possible that someone who did not volunteer information at the time may be willing to speak with police now. Legacy Investigation Branch Detectives will consider all investigative opportunities as part of the review into Brian’s murder.”
The transfer window was a show of strength in a record-breaking summer across the Premier League.
The totaliser crept over £3bn in spending, with more than half of it flowing among the 20 clubs rather than having a redistributing effect across Europe.
The start of new Premier League TV deals – the biggest individual source of income being from Sky News’ parent company Comcast – provides certainty for the next four years, while rival leagues can struggle to sell rights.
And the feared threat from Saudi Arabia has not materialised. It is an attractive and lucrative destination for some players, but not yet the ultimate destination.
But the kingdom has still influenced this transfer window.
Alexander Isak has joined Liverpool. Pic: Reuters
Let’s start with Newcastle, four years into their ownership by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.
Having secured a return to the Champions League, bringing UEFA riches, this was the summer to grow rather than lose talent to rivals.
But the Premier League’s pecking order became clear when Alexander Isak pushed for a move to Liverpool and rejected bids that did not deter his ambitions.
Player power won out.
The 25-year-old striker was able to withdraw himself from the squad, miss the opening three matches of the season, and put out a statement claiming promises had been broken by the Magpies.
Read more: Isak completes £125m Liverpool move
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Will Liverpool’s spend equal success?
Liverpool ‘loading up on talent’
And so he held on until deadline day, biding his time, sitting it out, and standing firm. Newcastle folded, accepting £125m – £20m lower than their apparent valuation.
Breaking the British record fee was Liverpool’s American ownership flexing financial muscle like never before.
The Premier League champions allowed manager Arne Slot to build from a position of strength.
This was the second time they broke the record in this window after bringing in another forward, Florian Wirtz, in a £116m deal.
More than £400m in reinforcements arrived at Anfield in a matter of weeks.
Former Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow told Sky Sports: “Liverpool are making hay while the sun shines, going for it. Really loading up on talent.
“Other clubs should be fearful and respectful of the way [Fenway Sports Group] are running their club.”
Eberechi Eze (centre right), who left Palace for Arsenal this summer, celebrates winning the FA Cup final. Pic: PA
The Isak deal weakened their Champions League rivals from the North East after banking £57m from another club owned by the Public Investment Fund when Darwin Nunez was offloaded to Saudi.
And PIF funded Chelsea’s summer spending spree in less obvious ways.
The Blues did negotiate a £44m package with PIF-backed Al Nassr deal for Joao Felix, recouping the fee paid just a year earlier.
But then there was the £90m prize money collected for winning the new FIFA Club World Cup – a competition bankrolled by PIF subsidiaries.
Where does this leave Newcastle? Still spending around £250m.
Florian Wirtz joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen. Pic: AP
Players and Liverpool couldn’t get all their way this summer, with Marc Guehi forced to stay at Crystal Palace after the FA Cup winners failed to secure a replacement for the England centre-back.
The late drama was just the latest of the summer transfer window’s twists and turns.
Read more from Sky News:
Heavyweight champion dies
Asylum seeker rules to change
US Open cap-grabber apologises
Both Arsenal and Manchester United also spent more than £200m each. The Gunners spent big in pursuit of a title that’s eluded them since 2004, while the Red Devils are just trying to get back into the Champions League.
It added up to a new record total outlay that comfortably eclipsed the previous Premier League record of £2.46bn from 2023.
The £3bn is more than the rest of Europe combined, showing both where the power is in world football and why the Premier League is the one the world wants to watch.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment11 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024