Alder Hey answers Axel Rudakubana’s questions

The ECHO understands Liverpool Children’s Hospital was involved in the mental health care of a child killer

After Axel Rudakubana confessed to the murder of three young girls in Southport last summer, questions have been mounting about what actions authorities did or did not take given his disturbing behavior in the years leading up to the deadly attack.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said this week that the state’s failure to stop the child killer “doesn’t appear on paper”, while his Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced there would be a statutory public inquiry into how ” “extremely brutal” Rudakubana was allowed to carry out one of the worst attacks in recent British history – including being referred to the Prevent program – which aims to stop people becoming terrorists – three times.

This public inquiry will assess all contacts the now 18-year-old had with police, courts, youth justice, social and psychiatric services in the years before the deaths of Elsie Dot Stancombe, Bebe King and Alice da Silva Aguiar in a dance party with themed by Taylor Swift last July.

In a statement released earlier this week, the Lancashire Child Safeguarding Partnership said Rudakubana had become known to a number of mental health agencies for “experiencing increasing anxiety and social isolation and, more recently, developing some challenging behaviour”.

The statement confirmed that he took a knife to school in October 2019 and, although he did not use it, physically assaulted a child with a hockey stick in December of the same year. After the first incident, agencies became involved.

We now know that Lancashire Police had several contacts with Rudakubana between October 2019 and May 2022, which included responding to five calls from Rudakubana’s home address regarding concerns about his behavior. On each occasion, officers referred vulnerable children to a local multi-agency safeguarding center designed to reduce the risk of any person falling through the protective netting.

An assessment by Lancashire Children’s Social Care team found that social work was not required but early help was to provide support with his emotional wellbeing and behaviour.

We also know that Rudakubana was undergoing an assessment for autism spectrum disorder, which resulted in him receiving an education and health care plan. A statement from Lancashire Safeguarding Partnership said it “remains open to providing mental health services for children and young people”. (CAMHS).” The statement added information that CAMHS noticed

We have no clear idea of ​​exactly what contact he had with mental health services and at what times. However, the ECHO understands that Rudakubana’s contact with the child and adolescent mental health service was led by Alder Children’s Hospital Hey in Liverpool.

Alder Hey runs the CAMHS Liverpool service, which operates from Liverpool Hospital and also at Liverpool Innovation Park. Social teams are also working on Sefton (Burlington House and Southport Health and Wellbeing Centre).

We asked the Trust, which runs the hospital, for details about the boy’s treatment or contact with a mental health service. In response, a spokesman said: “Following the conviction of Axel Rudakubana, we welcome the announcement of an independent public inquiry and will cooperate fully with this process. It would not be appropriate to make further comments at this time. “