Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana expressed concerns to a social worker about MI5 and MI6 accessing his personal information, a public inquiry has heard. During the conversation, he became vocal about the American government and the Taliban, according to newly disclosed records.
Rudakubana murdered three young girls - Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine - in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year. The revelation about his comments to social services only emerged following a disclosure error by Lancashire County Council.
The Southport Inquiry heard on Monday that records disclosed by the local authority were incomplete due to what counsel Nicholas Moss KC described as an "error". The legal team discovered extensive omissions in the council's data, with some records being "new and significant".
Missing records revealed
The missing material included a record of a home visit where a council worker discussed information sharing consent with Rudakubana's family. According to the council note, the conversation prompted the teenager to share his views on data access and privacy concerns.
The record stated: "This prompted AR to share his opinion on consent and information sharing and he felt that anybody could access his information and he didn't want this. He went on to say that MI5 and MI6 can access this if they want. This led on to him beginning to be vocal on politics, American government and Taliban."
Moss told the inquiry that discovering Rudakubana's vocal interest in MI5, MI6 and political issues was "of obvious relevance". He said the legal team would have wished to raise this information with previous witnesses dealing with the Government's Prevent anti-terror programme, to which Rudakubana had been referred three times.
School attendance issues
The inquiry also heard from Lucy McLoughlin, headteacher of Rudakubana's former school, Presfield High School. She revealed the teenager had an attendance record of just 0.7 per cent during his time at the specialist autistic school from March 2022 to June 2024.
Staff members who attempted home visits were not allowed to see Rudakubana, McLoughlin told the hearing. In May 2022, his form tutor James Berry received a warning from the teenager's father that Rudakubana "may become violent and may attack Mr Berry if AR was forced to see him".
The inquiry was adjourned until Tuesday, with Chairman Sir Adrian Fulford accepting "unreserved" apologies from council representatives regarding the disclosure error.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
