Southport killer Axel Rudakubana will not be named in the public enquiry

[NoelFaraday]

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana will not be named in the upcoming public probe into last summer's triple murders, the inquiry's chairman has revealed.

Rudakubana, 18, will instead be referred to in the report as the "perpetrator" or "AR".
In his opening statement on Tuesday, inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford claimed that Rudakubana’s name should not be used for reasons of sensitivity.
Fulford said: “For the benefit of the victims and their families, for whom this is an issue of significant and wholly understandable sensitivity, his name should not be used again during this inquiry.

“He will will simply be referred to as ‘the perpetrator’ or ‘AR’.”
The ex-Court of Appeal judge added: “However hard we try, ordinary language simply fails to reflect the enormity of what he did on July 29 last year.
"None of the most powerful adjectives even begin to suffice: there are no words that adequately describe what occurred and I am not going to try (and then fail) to find them.”
The Liverpool Town Hall inquiry will focus on whether the attack could have been prevented and whether adequate measures are in place to tackle teenagers “who are drawn into extreme violence without a commitment to a particular religious or political cause”.

The probe has been launched just months after Rudakubana was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years in January.
Rudakubana carried out his horrific attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29 last year.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were tragically killed in the stabbing spree.
Rudakubana also attempted to murder eight other children, class instructor Leanne Lucas and local businessman John Hayes.

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Remember when they tried to pass him off as being a Welsh choirboy and only posted photos of him as a little boy?

He is an evil murderer and his name should be read out in full.

I do understand exactly why this is beneficial to the victim families. I wouldn't want this name in my ear.

I couldn't be sure if there's another intention here at a higher level.

It's important though to point out -This case is a perfect example of misinformation. The guy is born in Britain, he's British. The guys issues and resultant behaviour have not one thing to do with nationality, religion or ethnicity.

It is something else. And the public do get this all wrong annoyingly.

Oh give over.

Look at the business in Liverpool where that eejit drove his car into the crowd. The local police had to announce that he was a local white male to stop “veil of secrecy” dickheads from going out and thumping brown people.

I agree with the line re the enormity of what he did. And language not being adequate. Just too awful.

Only TikTok loons called him a Welsh choirboy, he’d lived in Southport since 2013. The picture they used showed him in his high school uniform

But OP has done it on mn where there is a likelihood of a mum/aunt/family being on here.

It's a good thing. Killers like this shouldn't be named unless it's necessary; they don't deserve to be dignified, and their victims' families shouldn't have to hear the name. Let him fade into obscurity.

And yes I remember the childhood photos but not sure how that's relevant, except to say we should be looking at how someone then becomes a murderer.

Is anyone following the public inquiry? I’m really confused about the questioning of his family. It sounds (from what I’m reading) so accusatory. I cannot imagine their anguish and it reads as though they’re being put on trial for letting this happen. Parents aren’t trained in criminal psychology and I probably see threads on mumsnet weekly by parents frightened by their child’s dysregulated or violent behaviour.

I might be missing something. But I just want to almost reach out to them and tell them it’s ok. They were parents, blinded by the love of their child. The dad sought private counselling and went to parenting classes. God only knows what they’ve been through. No one could have imagined what he did.

This ‘thing’ is pure evil. Why should his name constantly be slammed across the news and papers when the victims and their families suffer every day because of his inhumane act. What they should do with this piece of sht is not give him the notoriety he wants. Should be addressed as ‘the scumbag’ ‘the evil cnt’

Quite common to leave out the name.
John Lennon’s killer is never named - a lot of them want to be famous.

Shit emoji or ‘perp’ both work.

I am in favour of the 'no notoriety ' approach. And given that AR has been all over the media, the people spouting 'veil of secrecy' conspiracy bollocks just look stupid.

Agree totally.

His Dad had been tortured in Rwanda and both his parents and three sisters were murdered. To have to live with his son doing this is just more than anyone should have to bear.

AR had been enrolled at a specialist school yet never attended. Staff went to the address regularly but the parents would not allow them to speak to him. They were frightened of him, but it does not appear that they told the school.

They told his brother he could harm them all and to be aware.

He left the family house on his own for the first time in a long time that day. They found knife packaging in the washing machine. Yet this did not cause any alarm.

I think it's right that questions are being asked of everyone whether this could have been prevented. What mistakes were made by statutory services. What concerns could have been addressed and by whom. Whether anyone could have done anything to really consider that his behaviour could escalate and that he would go from taking a knife to school and on a bus to carrying out such a terrible awful crime.

I cannot imagine knowing your child has done this.

It sounds like the parents have minimised his behaviour to the degree that it was normalised. And were afraid he would be taken away, which as a family who have experienced unimaginable trauma back home, must be especially frightening. But plainly they couldn’t cope and then didn’t ask for help in the way that the system needs. AR and his family and his victims have all been terribly let down.

And what I am also very sure of is that he isn’t alone. There will be scores of other kids in similar positions, being hidden by terrified parents, and who happen not to have enacted something so high profile. Yet.

It should be about what the families and parents want.

Perhaps one thing to come out of this then is that we need proper pathways for children and teenagers who present as a risk to others - the Prevent programme hugely failed because the perpetrator did not subscribe to a specific ideology… but that’s not to say he wasn’t presenting with extremism. It was like an undefined extremism. Where would parents, notably parents not native to the UK go for this kind of help? There were quite a few failures in this case I think… the school(s) included as he presented as challenging and violent.

The parents do need to be questioned. What is the point of an inquiry if it doesn’t shed insight on how it can be avoided again. How many families come from these war torn countries ? We either give them more support or don’t let them in at all. I also think violent children should not be walking our streets. They are ticking time bombs.

So where do you propose they go?

I go for the more support option but views are hardening otherwise. What happened in Southport triggered something in people. As did the Nottingham attack. We can’t keep on doing nothing.

agreed - more needs to be done for children like this - he presented with ALL of the warning signs but appropriate action was not taken (at many points as well). Such a shame. The victims, their families, his family, the community and him himself were all failed.

His full name continues to be used in media sources however such as news articles and TV broadcasts…

in this article
his dad said he feared his son would be taken away but in response to his dad I feel his son at this point SHOULD have been taken away. His dad accepts his share of responsibility in that his fear of his son stopped him from restricting access to inappropriate content online and ordering weapons.

news.sky.com/story/im-desperately-sorry-axel-rudakubanas-father-accepts-share-of-the-responsibility-after-southport-attack-13464330

I agree with this, but I also think the family history of persecution and torture in Rwanda will be relevant. If you have experienced that from the state, you are less likely to turn to them for help.

We need to catch traumatised refugees earlier and support them better.

Yes, you might be right there actually. Good point.
However… the parents did ask for help, and he was transferred to a special school wasn’t he?

And his parents didn't make him go, but I understand that, because by that point they were afraid of him. There is absolutely some responsibility there, because they didn't seek help and wouldn't accept that he needed to be taken out of the family home.

But if that family had been picked up at the point of settlement in the UK, things might have been very different.

The member of the Rudakubana family I do sympathise with is his brother. My siblings and I didn't exactly always get on like houses on fire growing up but I never had to live in fear of them being violent towards me in our own home.

I wonder if he'll change his name. I suspect I would do in his position.

Yes very true. I think there were multiple failings and there has to be joint responsibility (obvs from him himself) but also from his family and the state/services. I wonder why SS were not involved considering the risks to others. I think it’s concerning that the brother and mother did not alert the police when they had discovered he had taken a knife when going out that day. That is an escalation of risk, and no one should be carrying a knife even if it’s used for protection. He’s a teenager, he has no business carrying a knife especially. So I didn’t like that reason given by his brother in the article. If a family member of mine had gone out with a knife, I would think that’s absolutely wild and strange and I’d be telling the police, even out of concern for them.