
A HEADTEACHER had a sense of dread about the Southport killer when he was a pupil, a public inquiry heard yesterday.
Joanne Hodson warned colleagues that Axel Rudakubana, then 13, was “very high risk” after he took a knife into his previous school in 2019.

She said he showed no remorse and that he — and his parents — saw himself as a victim.
He regularly confronted staff at The Acorns School.
He has enrolled at the school after he was expelled from another high school
She told the inquiry: “I felt like every day it was building and building and building.”
Read more on Southport killer
She spoke of his “sinister undertone” and her “visceral sense of dread”.
The head said she was so worried that she sent an email to all her staff saying Rudakubana needed to be regularly searched for knives.
In 2019 and 2021, the specialist school in Ormskirk, Lancs, referred him to the Prevent anti-terror programme.
Rudakubana, now 19, is serving at least 52 years for killing three girls at a dance class in 2024.
The inquiry continues.











