The grandfather of a girl who survived being stabbed by Axel Rudakubana yesterday demanded the sacking of everyone who failed to realise the deadly threat he posed.
In a powerful intervention, he claimed the Southport families were let down by the authorities meant to protect their daughters both before and after the July 29 atrocity.
Firstly in not doing more to stop the killer, whose obsession with violence and savagery had seen him referred to the Prevent anti-extremism programme three times.
And secondly in failing to divulge following his arrest that the Cardiff-born teenager was known to counter-terrorism police – and that deadly ricin was found in searches of his home following the attack.
He also angrily accused Sir Keir Starmer of ‘choosing to protect himself’ rather than allow the truth about the killer to come out earlier.
‘I think that if, instead of doubling down on talking about the far right, he had come clean that this was a terrorist incident, things would have been different,’ says the grandfather, who cannot be identified as all the surviving children have been granted anonymity.
‘We were not looked after – we were pushed by the wayside.
‘It became all about the riots and what happened to us was forgotten. We were abandoned.’
The grandfather of a girl who survived being stabbed by Axel Rudakubana (pictured) yesterday demanded the sacking of everyone who failed to realise the deadly threat he posed
He also angrily accused Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) of ‘choosing to protect himself’ rather than allow the truth about the killer to come out earlier
A car burns on Parliament Road, in Middlesbrough, during a protest following the stabbings in Southport last year
While Rudakubana was not charged with carrying out a terrorist attack because police found no evidence that he was motivated by an ideology, the Prime Minister yesterday acknowledged that ‘terrorism has changed’.
Sir Keir said the law may need to be changed to represent the threat posed by ‘loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom’ obsessed with extreme violence.
In the aftermath of the attack, some of the families whose lives were turned upside down by the attack which killed Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, immediately suspected terrorism.
‘Some of the families were suspicious from the start but they were gaslit,’ the grandfather told the Daily Mail.
‘Others thought we should trust the authorities. For all of us, there was a lot of supposition and guesswork.
‘But when things started coming in, and we realised that everything people had suspected was true, it made all of us wonder why it was hidden.’
As well as being referred to Prevent three times, Rudakubana – who had been diagnosed with autism – was also being supported by children’s social care and mental health services.
The grandfather said the authorities had failed in not doing more to stop the killer, whose obsession with violence and savagery had seen him referred to the Prevent anti-extremism programme three times. Pictured: A statement from Keir Starmer
As well as being referred to Prevent three times, Rudakubana – who had been diagnosed with autism – was also being supported by children’s social care and mental health services. Pictured: A court artist’s sketch of Rudakubana appearing at Liverpool Crown Court
In addition he was monitored by the youth justice service after being expelled for taking a knife into Range High School in Formby aged 13 and then attacking pupils with a hockey stick.
With so many agencies involved, the grandfather believes the atrocity ‘should never have happened’.
‘There were too many missed opportunities, organisations were not communicating with each other, there was a lack of qualified staff and people were walking on eggshells around political correctness rather than dealing with him,’ he said.
While rumours about the biological toxin ricin being found in Rudakubana’s bedroom quickly began circulating in Southport, the discovery – along with the fact Rudakubana was accused of downloading an Al Qaeda training manual – was not released to the public until October 29.
Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, was among the three little girls killed in the attack in Southport
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, was one of the three children killed in the knife attack in Southport
Bebe King, six, was also killed in the knife attack at The Hart Space in Southport
‘I don’t know why the Government didn’t come clean from day one,’ says the grandfather, who said the families were ‘told not to talk about it’ before the bombshell charge of possessing terrorist material were announced.
‘Most of us were of the opinion that someone higher up than Merseyside police and the CPS intervened and suppressed it until then.
‘But when they said they’d decided not to put the information into the public domain it confirmed our suspicions that everyone was being lied to.
‘We are all just pieces in Starmer’s game of chess.’
When Sir Keir went to Southport a day after the attack – and hours before riots broke out centred on the local mosque following false rumours on social media – he encountered a hostile crowd when he went to lay flowers.
‘We watched it from my granddaughter’s hospital bed,’ recalls the grandfather.
‘He turned up, it looked like he threw some flowers on the floor.
‘There were a few nans and grandads, aunts and uncles of the victims in that crowd and they didn’t feel listened to.
‘I am sure that inspired some people to riot – people who had no intention of rioting before.’
The grandfather believes that if the truth had come out as the police discovered it, the families would also have been looked after in a better way.
‘We have had to fight for everything,’ he says. ‘This has massively affected the whole community but only the parents were helped.
‘This meant that step-parents, aunties and uncles and grandparents have all struggled even though we are all traumatised and struggling what happened.’
For some of the families, one of the few people in authority to listen to them was King Charles who met relatives privately on August 20.
‘He came and spent an hour and 40 minutes to everyone – much longer than he was supposed to – and he spoke to all the parents and he even got orange juices to give to the children,’ the grandfather said.
‘I think it made us realise that we needed more people to show us they cared.’
The grandparent welcomes the public inquiry but said the result can’t be more handwringing.
‘We don’t want to hear thoughts and prayers and ‘lessons will be learned’,’ he said.
‘We want to see the dismissal of every employee that messed up.’
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