Should the parents of the Southport Killer face civil or even criminal action?

[mids2019]

Listening to the news I do wonder if the parental decisions of the Southport Killer reach a point where they need to face some sort of accountability. I understand that the parents aren't to blame but potentially they could have acted to stop their son and is there not some sort of sanction for this?

So they knew he had it. People talking about them being afraid of him, what were they thinking not confiscating it.

Not all incidents. They did hide it. His dad said in court the other day that they hid his numerous assaults on family members because they were worried he would be taken into care. The system failed because the parents hid the extent of his violent outbursts. How else were they supposed to know?

His brother was terrified AR was going to kill one of them but trusted his parents to be open with social services and agencies involved. They hid it instead. They warned their other son to be careful around AR. They had to keep knives in the home hidden.

Hard not to point the finger of blame hearing that. They are culpable.

They tried to hide it apparently. I don’t know what they were thinking, they should have taken it straight to the police. They were complicit in the whole thing, imo.

They did have help which they did not embrace in any shape or form. They blamed everybody but their son ... the police, the schools, the teachers. I do feel sorry for them, they were out if their depth, but their parenting style made things far worse, they would not accept any criticism of him.

I haven't seen it reported anywhere they knew he wanted to kill children. They couldn't really even answer why he targeted children. Let's not turn a sensible conversation into hyperbole.

Did you read yesterday’s news about what his parents said during the inquiry? There were numerous opportunities for them to step in, yet they didn’t. His father even knowingly accepted parcels containing knives, addressed to fake names his son had created. The mother outright refused a home welfare visit. They were paying him just to take showers. When they eventually went to clean his room, they discovered weapons. They absolutely could have done more but chose not to. The warning signs were there all along. So yeah I think they should

It was stated in the inquiry

So they knew he had it. People talking about them being afraid of him, what were they thinking not confiscating it.

You've answered your own question. They were terrified of him. Terrified that if they challenged him he would kill them.

They had reached out for help and support and (it would seem) been utterly failed. CAMHS discharged him and said he posed no risk just days before he murdered those poor girls.

Having parented a very mentally unwell child I can tell you that it's petrifying and there is precious little support.

💐

DF was bloody dangerous when he got dementia, utter, extremely heartfelt sympathies. No one wants to know. We had to wait till DF left the house to 999 him back home - luckily the police did so incredibly quickly.

No. They tried to get their son help, he was under the care of CAMHS for heavens sake. I don’t know why people have asked why they didn’t call the police. He hadn’t actually committed a crime at that point so what do you think the police would have done exactly? Christ only knows they don’t help half of the time when they know actual crimes have happened.

It isn’t their fault, they’re not monsters, their son is mentally disturbed.

I do not know all the ins and outs of his previous issues with police but I remember that he was caught with a knife, by the police, I think on a bus? Is that right?
To be honest, if the police did not take further action then I think is due to a broken system that is failing to assess properly.
I can imagine some family members fully getting how bad he was, others clinging to a possible recovery.....
If they had never spoken up, I would get it. But they did.

His school told the mental health people he was dangerous and had severe mental health issues. The mental health ",professional" told he/she was racist and made her strike it out of the report.
That person should be in the dock as an accessory

So many failings.

Headteacher was accused of "racially profiling a black boy with a knife"
How the fuck do these people get these jobs?

The mother reportedly made a “zip it” gesture to her dh when he was speaking about AR.

Those saying they are sorry for the parents - their behaviour was beyond the normal realm of protecting a mentally ill child. Actually knowing your ds is harbouring weapons - nay, signing for their delivery - is despicable.

They had reached out for help and support and (it would seem) been utterly failed. CAMHS discharged him and said he posed no risk just days before he murdered those poor girls.

The case was closed becase the parents did not tell the case worker the truth. Mrs Radukabana gestured for her husband to 'zip it' when the case worker was there to stop him saying anything.

They knew he had numerous dangerous weapons, he was removed from school for taking in a knife, the parents knew he intended to use it, the father prevented him from going to burn the school down. They knew he was dangerous and escalating and yet they did nothing about the arsenal of deadly weapons he was accumulating.

They did not tell the services involved with him any of this. Their excuses as to why they said nothing are just that terrible, weak excuses.

Thye do bear a degree of responsibility for their actions and inactions.

I think there’s problems here that are engrained in a system and would now be difficult to change. So many ways the little girls and their families were failed.

I don't know if they should but i imagine that the vast majority of parents could not contemplate their own child committing such atrocities even if they are hell to live with in their own home.
He could have done what he did with one single knife regardless of the stockpile he had so would anyone be looking to blame the parents then ?
The family in america bought the boy a gun knowing he had mental issues so i think that situation is different .
Perhaps society should also be looking at amazon and the likes who are sending out orders of knives ,machetes etc -shouldn't repeat orders of potential weapons to an address sound some kind of alarm system ?

The parents lied. The authorities left.

We have established laws. If they have potentially broken a law then it’s reasonable to investigate that, but if they haven’t then obviously, no, they shouldn’t. You don’t make clear what laws you think they have broken.

The whole system is broken and failing many of us daily. It needs reform in a multitude of ways.

Given that this boy had been under the care of CAMHs, at points, SS, had police involvement, had been expelled from school and had been referred to Prevent not once but THREE times, I am shocked that he wasn’t more closely monitored.

And I am sorry to say this, but the parents absolutely were complicit and could have acted during that week prior to and on the day of the attack.

It’s an exceptionally distressing case that highlights the need for more joined up care and better support and response to risk that out of control children can carry.

My words can’t even cover how sad and upsetting it is in all honesty.

Same

The most frightening thing is wondering how many more people like this are among us

The parents of the victims feel there is blame here so should their opinions be ignored

I have been the victim of a serious violent crime and to be honest, I do not think I am the appropriate person to be making decisions about the punishment of the perpetrator, and any consequences for those around them.

ETA - that’s not me saying these parents should or shouldn’t have some sort of consequence, I don’t know enough about it. Just that I don’t personally think that because the parents of the girls blame them, that should make the difference.

They didn’t reach out for help though. They denied access to external agencies and hid his violent outbursts (multiple times and day) and failed to report his weapon hoarding. They lied because they were worried he would be taken into care - so they obviously knew his behaviour was that concerning.

They put their other child at risk.

Maybe CAMHS would have acted differently if his parents had been honest. I’ve also had dealing with CAMHS. They don’t have crystal balls.

Your own experience is not the same as theirs. They didn’t seek help. They hid from it. Now 3 children are dead and many others are living with the scars he left them with.