When 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana got into a taxi on 29 July last year, it was the first time he’d left the family home on his own in more than two years.

His troubling behaviour and obsession with violence had brought him into contact with police, including counter-terrorism officers, the criminal justice system, social services, and mental health professionals over the previous five years.

His degree-educated, Christian parents, Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire, were used to his violent outbursts, knew he had bought a small arsenal of weapons online, and had a history of carrying knives.

They thought he posed a threat to his father and older brother, but say they never thought he was capable of carrying out the mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class – killing Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and injuring eight other children and two adults.

From the evidence that’s emerged at the public inquiry into the atrocity in the Lancashire seaside town, it seems obvious he would carry out an attack, raising serious questions about why so many opportunities were missed to stop him.

Harrowing accounts

When the inquiry started at Liverpool Town Hall in July, a little under a year after the murders, we heard harrowing accounts from those who were in the upstairs dance studio in the Hart Space, when Rudakubana walked through the door armed with a 20cm chef’s knife.

There were tales of extreme bravery – among them an already badly injured girl stabbed another six times in the back when she tried to defend her younger sister, and John Hayes, the businessman stabbed after running from his office next door to tackle the attacker.

Others regretted not doing more – taxi driver Gary Poland, who took Rudakubana to the scene, apologised after the inquiry heard he drove off as children’s screams rang out and didn’t call police for 50 minutes.

The teacher who organised the event, Leanne Lucas, 36, who was badly injured and first to call 999, said there was nothing she could have done to keep the children safe after “multiple organisations” had failed to stop the killer.

‘Visceral sense of dread’

Rudakubana lived in Cardiff with his parents, who were granted asylum in the UK after fleeing the Rwandan genocide, and his older brother Dion before the family moved to Southport in 2013.

His family told how his behaviour rapidly deteriorated when he was in Year 8, as he became withdrawn and isolated and prone to regular violent outbursts at home.

He was expelled from Range High School, in Formby, Lancashire, in October 2019 after calling Childline to say he was carrying a knife into school because he wanted to kill a boy he said was bullying him.

He was then sent to The Acorns School in Ormskirk, a pupil referral unit, where the headteacher Joanne Hodson felt a “visceral sense of dread” like “he was building up to something”.

When she asked him why he had taken a knife to his former school, “he looked me in the eyes and said ‘to use it’,” she said. “This is the only time in my career that a pupil has said this to me or behaved in a manner so devoid of any remorse.”

Assessed as ‘medium risk’

She feared Rudakubana was going to “bring something” to The Acorns, but he instead took a taxi back to Range High School in December 2019, carrying a knife in his bag, and attacked a boy in the corridor with a hockey stick after he couldn’t find the supposed bully.

On 19 February 2020, then aged 13, he received a 10-month referral order after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possession of an offensive weapon in a public place and possession of a bladed article. It was his only criminal conviction before the Southport attack.

The order required him to take courses and participate in education but most of his contact with the Lancashire council youth offending team (YOT) was by phone during the first COVID lockdown and social workers had just three 30-minute face-to-face sessions to address his behaviour.

Rudakubana was assessed as “medium risk” and despite repeatedly refusing to see social workers, no enforcement action was taken, while two days before his case was closed, on 19 January 2021, it was noted his dad had slapped him in an argument.

The inquiry heard Mr Rudakubana had been kicked in the groin by his son, who threatened to break his laptop in one of his regular violent outbursts at home, which could be triggered by losing an argument or a visit from social workers.

His mum said she felt “physically unwell” when he would smash things, while her husband said he was “ashamed” he became “conditioned to his behaviour, allowed him to abuse and assault me” because “any attempt to impose discipline” was met with an “escalation”.

In November 2021, Rudakubana “trashed” his parents’ house, leading to his mother calling the police and, in another incident, kicked his father and threw a plate at a rental car, damaging the windscreen, again leading to his parents calling the police.

Teachers ‘lost faith’ in anti-terrorism programme

Meanwhile, staff at The Acorns made three referrals to the government’s anti-terror programme Prevent between 2019 and 2021 because he was looking at material about “school mass shootings” and talking about guns and beheadings.

He had also referred to the Manchester Arena attack as a “good battle” and researched the London Bridge terrorist attack, although it later emerged he had anti-Islamic cartoons on his laptop along with graphic images of dead bodies.

Every time his case was closed because he did not seem to have any clear ideology, even though the Home Office had alerted Prevent workers to the threat of those interested in school shootings.

When Rudakubana made comments thought to be antisemitic in January 2022, teachers did not make another Prevent referral as the head said they’d “lost faith that anything would be done”.

His parents said they hid the kitchen knives at home after the Range High School attack, but on 17 March 2022, Rudakubana, then 15, was found on a bus with a small kitchen knife after refusing to pay the fare. He told police he wanted to stab someone and said, “I’ve also thought about poisoning people”.

But instead of being arrested and charged, he was treated as a vulnerable person and taken home by officers who made a referral for social services and mental health support. It was the last time he left home alone before the attack.

‘Struggling to cope’

Lancashire council’s children and family wellbeing service closed a series of four cases designed to support the family dealing with Rudakubana, and the attempts to get him to leave his house and go to school ended 10 months before the attack because he was refusing to see them.

Presfield Specialist High School, which specialises in pupils with autism, agreed to take Rudakubana on as a pupil in March 2022, but despite repeated attempts to get him to turn to play basketball or eat pizza, his attendance was only 0.7% over two years. He was removed from the roll a month before the attack.

His father told the school attendance team that he would “pay the price” if staff were allowed into the house and his mother “flatly refused” to let them see her son, the inquiry heard.

Police were called to the family home after another 999 call in the early hours of 14 May 2022, after Rudakubana threw food and tried to flood the house after an argument about access to his laptop.

Officers recorded that Rudakubana’s parents were “struggling to cope” and had agreed to contact Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and the GP.

Rudakubana was first referred to Alder Hey by his GP in August 2019, but waited 77 weeks for an autism diagnosis.

Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (FCAMHS) declined to assess his risk to himself and others without the diagnosis, and in the end he was only treated for anxiety.

‘Trust me, I will kill you’

One consultant psychologist said she no longer “felt safe” working with Rudakubana’s father, who admitted withholding “some” information about his son’s violence to CAMHS, which was assessing his risk to himself and others.

Another, Dr Anthony Molyneux, told the inquiry Rudakubana “presented, in essence, as an unremarkable, sullen, untalkative, gawky teenage boy.”

However, in an incident in early 2024, Rudakubana poured a bottle of oil over his father and told him: “Trust me, I will kill you.”

Rudakubana was discharged from Alder Hey CAMHS on 23 July 2024, just six days before the attack, with a document recording: “Poses risk to others: None,” although they knew he hadn’t left the house for five months, was refusing to wash and was not eating properly.

The previous day, Rudakubana had burst into his father’s bedroom brandishing a kitchen knife identical to the one used in the mass stabbing and jabbed it into the bed.

He asked about the Range, where it was the last day of term, and if Mr Rudakubana would get him petrol.

Read more:
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Rudakubana judged as posing no risk to others
The missed chances to stop Rudakubana
More capacity for mental health referrals ‘needed‘

Foiled ‘arson attack’ at old school

His father refused before begging a taxi driver not to take his son to his old school, where he believed he planned to carry out an arson attack, and Rudakubana threatened him, warning: “Next time, if you stop me, there will be consequences.”

His bedroom was usually “off limits”, but on the evening of 22 July last year, he allowed his parents in to clean it.

Mr Rudakubana told the inquiry his wife was “petrified” when they found a bow and arrow, what is now thought to be his attempt to prepare a crude version of the deadly poison ricin, and firecrackers under his bed.

His son had ordered castor seeds, concentrated alcohol and laboratory apparatus from Amazon between January and February 2022.

Using stolen ID, Rudakubana also bought three machetes – two which were intercepted by his father – and two kitchen knives, one of which he used in the attack, which Mr Rudakubana is also thought to have accepted delivery of in what he accepted was a “serious breach” of his duty as a parent.

‘I’m desperately sorry,’ says father

Mr Rudakubana said he was worried his son would be taken into care and his fear of him “prevented him from doing things a parent would normally do”, such as restricting internet activity and ordering weapons online, which “had catastrophic consequences for which I’m desperately sorry“.

“I accept I bear my share of the responsibility and that by not challenging his behaviour he was allowed to acquire dangerous weapons and view inappropriate content online,” he said.

Six minutes before he left home on 29 July, Rudakubana searched X for an attack on a bishop in Sydney by an alleged teenage terrorist.

Self-described “free speech warrior” Deanna Romina Khananisho, the social media firm’s head of global government, gave evidence to the inquiry defending the company’s decision not to remove the video, which is still available, despite requests from the UK and Australian authorities.

Wanted to ‘hurt society’

Lancashire Police Assistant Chief Constable Mark Winstanley warned there are many young men viewing similar material to Rudakubana and said he fears there could be another attack.

After leaving the house on 29 July last year, Rudakubana went for a walk, called taxis and came back to the outside of the house before finally taking a cab to the Hart Space.

His brother Dion said their mum found knife packaging in the washing machine but both parents said they thought he’d gone for a walk – despite having not gone out alone since he was caught with a knife in March 2022.

Rudakubana’s mother and father could offer no motive for the target, but his brother – who compared him to the “sociopath” killer played by Javier Bardem in the film No Country For Old Men – suggested it was because “children are very valuable to society” and it would “hurt society very badly” if children were to be harmed.

Rudakubana has been jailed for life with a minimum of 52 years and the inquiry chairman, Sir Adrian Fulford, hopes to deliver his report on the first phase by spring.

But the parents of the girls who died have already seen enough to reach conclusions, calling for Rudakubana’s parents, and every agency involved to be held to account.

Bebe’s parents, Lauren and Ben King, said it’s “been painfully clear that Bebe was failed at every possible turn”.

The Home Office is looking at what Denmark is doing to cut illegal migration, Sky News understands.

Last month, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood dispatched officials to the Nordic nation to study its border control and asylum policies, which are considered some of the toughest in Europe.

In particular, officials are understood to be looking at Denmark’s tighter rules on family reunion and restricting most refugees to a temporary stay in the country.

Ms Mahmood will announce a major shake-up of the UK’s immigration system later this month, PA is reporting.

Labour MPs are said to be split on the move.

Some, in so-called Red Wall seats which are seen as vulnerable to challenge from Reform UK, want ministers to go further in the direction Denmark has taken.

But others believe the policies will estrange progressive voters and push the Labour Party too far to the right.

It comes as the government continues to struggle to get immigration under control, with rising numbers of small boat crossings in the Channel over the last few months and a migrant, deported under the UK’s returns deal with France, re-entering the country.

Some 648 people crossed the Channel to Britain in nine boats on Friday, according to Home Office figures, bringing the total for the year to 38,223.

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Ms Mahmood wants deterrents in place to stop migrants seeking to enter the country via unauthorised routes.

She also wants to make it easier to remove those who are found to have no right to stay in the UK.

Sources told the PA news agency she was eager to meet her Danish counterpart, Rasmus Stoklund, the country’s immigration minister, at the earliest possible convenience.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Mr Stoklund likened Danish society to “the hobbits in The Lord Of The Rings” and said people coming to the country who do not contribute positively would not be welcome.

Mr Stoklund said: “We are a small country. We live peacefully and quietly with each other. I guess you could compare us to the hobbits in The Lord Of The Rings.”

“We expect people who come here to participate and contribute positively, and if they don’t they aren’t welcome.”

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The split in Labour was apparent from public comments by MPs today.

Stoke-on-Trent Central Labour MP Gareth Snell told Radio 4’s Today programme that any change bringing “fairness” to an asylum system that his constituents “don’t trust” was “worth exploring”.

But Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome, who is a member of the party’s Socialist Campaign Group caucus, said: “I think these are policies of the far right. I don’t think anyone wants to see a Labour government flirting with them.”

It started with a strong espresso in a simple cafe on a side street in north London.

Several Algerian men were inside, a few others were outside on the pavement, smoking.

I’d been told the wanted prisoner might be in Finsbury Park, so I ordered a coffee and asked if they’d seen him.

They were happy to tell me that some of them knew Brahim Kaddour-Cherif – the 24-year-old offender who was on the run.

One of the customers revealed to me that he’d actually seen him the night before.

“He wants to hand himself to police,” the friend said candidly.

This was the beginning of the end of a high-profile manhunt.

The Algerian convicted sex offender had been at large since 29 October, after he was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth in south London.

Within an hour of meeting the friend in the cafe, he had followed myself and camera operator Josh Masters to a nearby street.

We weren’t yet filming – he didn’t want any attention or fuss surrounding him.

“Follow me, he’s in the park,” the man told me.

“Follow – but not too close.”

We did.

I was in the same park a few weeks ago after fugitive Hadush Kebatu, the Ethiopian sex offender – also wrongly released from prison – was arrested in Finsbury Park.

It was odd to be back in the same spot in such similar circumstances.

Read more on Tom’s story:
Wrongly released prisoner’s angry reaction
‘I’m glad he’s been arrested‘

As he led us through the park past joggers, young families and people playing tennis, the man headed for the gates near Finsbury Park station.

All of a sudden, two police officers ran past us.

The Met had received a tip-off from a member of the public.

It was frantic. Undercover officers, uniformed cops, screeching tyres and blaring sirens. We were in the middle of the manhunt.

As they scoured the streets at speed, we walked by some of the Algerian men I’d seen in the cafe.

One man near the group was wearing green tracksuit bottoms, a beanie hat and had glasses on.

“It’s him, it’s him,” one of the other men said to me, gesturing towards him.

The man in the beanie then quickly turned on his heel and walked off.

“It’s him, it’s him,” another guy agreed.

The suspect was walking off while the police were still searching the nearby streets.

Josh and I caught up with him and I asked directly: “Are you Brahim?”

You may have watched the exchange in the Sky News video – he was in denial, evasive and pretended the suspect had pedalled off on a Lime bike.

I can only guess he knew the game was up, but for whatever reason, he was keeping up the lie.

Moments later, one of the bystanders told me “it is him” – with added urgency.

Only the prisoner knows why he then walked up to the nearby police van – officers quickly moved to handcuff him and tell him why he was being arrested.

Over the next 10 minutes, he became agitated. His story changed as I repeatedly asked if he had been the man inside HMP Wandsworth.

Officers needed confirmation too – one quickly pulled out a smartphone and checked an image of the wanted man from one of Sky News’ online platforms.

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“It’s not my f****** fault, they release me!” he yelled at me.

The search was over, the prisoner cage in the back of the van was opened and he was guided in.

I then spoke to another Algerian man who had tipped off the police – he told me he hated sex offenders and the shame he felt over the whole episode.

The community had done the right thing – there were two tip-offs – one to me, one to the police.

The farce of this manhunt had gone on long enough.