Southport killer Axel Rudakubana ‘carried a knife more than ten times and bought blade on Amazon’

21 January 2025, 13:37 | Updated: 22 January 2025, 00:52

Southport murdered Axel Rudakubana was convicted of a violent assault against a child at school and was found to have been in possession of a knife on at least ten different occasions, it emerged on Tuesday.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper delivered a statement in the House of Commons after the Government’s decision to launch a public inquiry into the Southport attack.

Ms Cooper said that he was referred to the Prevent anti-terrorism programme three times and a review found his case should not have been closed.

She also said that she would be urging tech firms to remove ‘dangerous material’ of the type accessed by Rudakubana.

Yvette Cooper reveals more details about Southport killer

The Home Secretary said “the Prevent learning review found that Rudakubana admitted to having carried a knife more than 10 times, yet the action against him was far too weak, and despite the fact that he had been convicted for violence and was just 17, he was easily able to order a knife on Amazon. “

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Technology companies “should not be profiting from hosting content that puts children’s lives at risk,” she said.

On his conviction for a violent assault on a school pupil, he was handed a youth justice referral order.

The order is intended to help the young person avoid reoffending by making them ‘aware of the consequences of their actions’.

Lancashire child safeguarding partnership said Rudakubana ‘fully engaged’ with and completed the order in 2021.

The Home Secretary said he expressed interest in London bridge attacks, school shootings, IRA, Mi5 and the Middle East and there were five calls to police from his home address about his behaviour.

Rudakubana was also able to order a knife on Amazon, Ms Cooper added.

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She told MPs “there were so many signs of how dangerous" Rudakubana was as she outlined the public inquiry.

"Multiple different agencies were in contact with Rudakabana and knew about his history of violence.

"He was referred three times to Prevent between December 2019 and April 2021 when aged 13 and 14.

"Between October 2019 and May 2022, Lancashire Police responded to five calls at his home address about his behaviour. He was referred repeatedly to the multi-agency safeguarding hub. He had contact with children's social care, the early help service, child and adolescent mental health services.

"He was convicted of a violent assault against another child at school and was referred to the youth offending team.

"He was excluded from one school. He had long periods of absence from another."

She said: "All those agencies had contact with (Rudakubana) yet between them, they completely failed to identify the terrible danger that he posed. How did he fall through so many gaps? It is just unbearable to think that something more could and should have been done.

"So, there are grave questions about how this network of agencies failed to identify and act on the risks. There were so many signs of how dangerous he had become, yet the action against him was far too weak. So, families need the truth about why the system failed to tackle his violence for so many years.

"That is why we are setting up an independent public inquiry. Like the Angiolini inquiry into Wayne Couzens, it will begin work initially on a non-statutory basis, so that it can move quickly into action, but with statutory powers added later, as required.

"We will set out the terms of reference and appoint the chair once we have consulted the coroner and given the families the opportunity to comment."

Sir Keir Starmer said earlier tougher laws could be needed to regulate the "nightmares of the online world".

The Prime Minister said users can view a "tidal wave of violence" on the internet, and that there are tougher rules for films shown in cinemas unlike for the material freely available online.

Rudakubana had a PDF file entitled Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants, The Al Qaeda Training Manual, which led to him being charged with possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism, which he admitted on Monday.

When police searched Rudakubana's home in Banks, Lancashire, after he carried out the Southport murders on July 29, they found knives and poison, as well as images and documents relating to violence, war and genocide on his devices.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she had asked tech companies to remove the material he looked at and also pledged tougher restrictions on the online sale of knives after it emerged Rudakubana bought a blade from Amazon.

The Prime Minister said the teenager represented a new kind of threat, distinct from politically or ideologically motivated terrorism, with "acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom, accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety".

At a Downing Street press conference, Sir Keir said: "To face up to this new threat there are also bigger questions.

"Questions such as how we protect our children from the tidal wave of violence freely available online.

"Because you can't tell me that the material this individual viewed before committing these murders should be accessible on mainstream social media platforms.

"That with just a few clicks, people can watch video after horrific video. Videos that in some cases are never taken down.

"No - that cannot be right."

Sir Keir said the attack in Southport was not an "isolated, ghastly example", pointing to evidence from mass school shootings in the US.

He said: "This is a new threat, individualised, extreme violence, obsessive, often following online viewing of material from all sorts of different sources.

"It is not a one-off. It is something that we all need to understand and have a shared undertaking to deal with within our society.

"That is not just the laws on terrorism, the framework on terrorism. It's also the laws of what we can access online.

"We still have rules in place in this country about what we can see at a cinema, yet online you can access no end of materials.

"We have to ensure that we can rise to this new challenge, and that is what I'm determined to do."