A police sergeant has told the Southport Inquiry she would have kept the killer's first Prevent referral open if she had been aware of his complete internet search history. The officer said discovering his searches for disturbing violent content would have changed her decision to close the case.
Axel Rudakubana murdered three young girls - Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine - during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July last year. He also attempted to kill 10 others in the attack.
The December 2019 referral
The inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall examined the first referral made by Rudakubana's school in December 2019. School staff reported he had brought knives to his previous school on 10 occasions and searched for American school shootings during computer lessons.
The referral also detailed how he questioned why he could colour Call of Duty images in art class but not view guns online, before requesting "a picture of a severed head". Previous evidence revealed he had attacked another pupil with a hockey stick and been found with a knife.
Missing search history details
Police Sergeant Carmen Thompson from Counter Terrorism Policing North West handled the original referral through the Prevent programme. She described the contents as "concerning" but said she "needed to get more information and speak to him" before making a full assessment.
Thompson ultimately recommended closing the referral, determining Rudakubana did not meet the threshold for Channel - the government programme supporting those vulnerable to radicalisation. However, she had not seen evidence of his searches for degloving injuries and glue guns.
Decision would have changed
When asked whether knowing this information would have altered her decision, Thompson said: "I believe if I'd have seen that search history as you've just explained then I would have referred it to Channel."
The sergeant explained her reasoning during a strategy meeting where agencies discussed Rudakubana's claims of bullying and his comment describing the 2017 Manchester Arena attack as a "good battle". She attributed many concerning behaviours to his autism diagnosis.
Autism context influenced assessment
Thompson told the inquiry: "My understanding was a lot of the comments that he said were very inappropriate in relation to all sorts of different things and I attributed that to the way he was presenting with his autism and the issues that he had, like not being able to make eye contact, not understanding emotions, all these sorts of traits that you could associate with autism."
She acknowledged his violent behaviour but explained: "I accept that he was violent, he had been arrested for a violent offence, but for my assessment as to was he meeting a threshold for a referral to Channel… I didn't view it as extreme violence in a Prevent way."
Hindsight proves difficult
The sergeant said she had not identified ideological motivation at the time, stating: "I didn't see that obsession through the decision making and conversations and information that I had at that time."
She became emotional during testimony, later wiping her eyes as she continued: "Of course it's really difficult now with hindsight not to consider that because we all know what happened on that day and I'm finding that difficult to do." The inquiry continues.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
