Chairman Sir Adrian Fulford sitting inside the hearing room at Liverpool Town Hall (Image: PA)
The parents of three girls murdered in a horrific knife attack in Southport last year have launched a scathing attack on the parents of killer Axel Rudakubana over their failure to report concerns about their son. The relatives called for accountability as the first phase of the public inquiry, being held at Liverpool Town Hall, heard a final day of evidence.
Rudakubana, then aged 17, murdered Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar and attempted to kill 10 others at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year. In a statement after the evidence had finished, Elsie’s parents Jenni and David Stancombe, said the inquiry had shown “in painful detail” missed opportunities and failings that led to their daughter’s death. They said the statements from the killer’s parents had only added to their “unbearable pain” and they believed Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire should be held to account for “what they allowed to happen”.
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Victims Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar (Image: PA)
They added: “Parents should be culpable when they knowingly allow such evil to exist unchecked under their own roof, when they know what their child is capable of and choose to do nothing.
“The values of our society depend on each of us taking responsibility. They chose not to, and because of that, we no longer have the chance to watch our kind, loving, beautiful little girl, who didn’t even know what bad was, grow up. Because of him, and because of them.”
Alice’s parents Alex and Sergio Aguiar addressed Mr Rudakubana and Ms Muzayire in a statement, saying: “Your failure to take responsibility, to act, and to intervene when there were clear signs of danger, directly contributed to the devastating loss of our daughter’s life.”
They added: “We cannot comprehend how such an outcome was allowed to unfold when there were opportunities to act – when intervention, care, and responsibility could have prevented this.
“It is unacceptable that the inaction of individuals and the shortcomings of the system have led to such irreversible pain.
“We call upon lawmakers and authorities to recognise the urgent need for reform.
Bebe King’s parents Lauren and Ben arrive at Liverpool Town Hal (Image: PA)
“Parents must be held accountable for the actions and behaviours of their children when they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent harm.
“The system must be strengthened to identify risks, act upon them, and protect the innocent before tragedy strikes.
“Our daughter’s death must not be in vain. Let her memory serve as a call for accountability, change, and justice.”
Lauren and Ben King, whose daughter Bebe was killed, described the evidence of Rudakubana’s parents as “deeply disturbing and shameful”.
They said: “Time after time, they had opportunities to intervene, to stop this, to protect others.
“If they had acted with any real sense of duty, Bebe, Elsie and Alice would still be here. It is that simple.
“What we’re struggling to comprehend is not just their failure then, but their failure now – to acknowledge, to take responsibility, to face up to what they allowed to happen.”
Liverpool Town Hall, where the hearing is taking place (Image: Liverpool Echo)
In the statement, issued through their legal representative at Bond Turner, Chris Walker, they said there were “countless chances” to intervene but “those in power looked the other way”.
They added: “These were not unavoidable errors. These were systemic failures, and every agency involved must now be held accountable.”
Nicola Brook from Broudie Jackson Canter, the solicitor representing adult victims Leanne Lucas, Heidi Liddle and Jonathan Hayes, said: “The sheer volume of mistakes and missed opportunities revealed during this section of the inquiry has come as a shock to our clients and raised new concerns and questions.
“We expected failings but we did not expect them to be on such a prolific scale, across multiple agencies.
“It has since been revealed that a record number of referrals have been made to the counter-terrorism programme, Prevent, with a significant increase following the attack.
“Our question remains – when will this programme work?”
Inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford, who is expected to complete a report on the first phase of the inquiry by next spring, said the obligation was to provide answers to victims and their families.
Concluding the hearings, he said: “Our principal responsibility lies to them to provide the best possible explanation as to why and how this terrible event occurred, and to be brave about suggesting the changes that ought to be made to prevent, if we can, a repetition.”
Laetitia Muzayire, who moved to the UK from Rwanda with her husband in 2002, read a prepared statement on behalf of her and her family, who she said had come to the inquiry with “broken hearts”.
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She said: “There are no words that can ever be enough to express our grief and remorse for the children whose lives were taken or forever changed by our son’s actions.
“We think of them every single day and we carry the weight of that loss in our hearts and prayers.
“As a mother, I grieve deeply for my own son, but most of all for the innocent lives lost and the lives that have been devastated.
“There are many things that Alphonse and I wish we had done differently, anything that might have prevented the horrific event of July 29 2024.
“(For) our failure, we are profoundly sorry. We pray every day for the children and their families, and for God’s comfort to surround them.”
During his evidence, Rudakubana’s father Alphonse said he was “desperately sorry” for the families of the victims.
Nicholas Bowen KC, representing the bereaved families, told him: “They have complete disdain for your excuses and the manner in which you have answered questions.”
Mr Bowen was stopped by inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford, who told him: “That’s not appropriate at all.
A second phase of the inquiry will be informed by the findings of phase one and is expected to focus on the risk posed by young people with a fixation or obsession with acts of extreme violence.
