Southport victims’ families urge police to reinvestigate killer’s parents after inquiry revelations

THE parents of three girls killed in the Southport attack have urged cops to re-consider whether Axel Rudakubana’s parents should be charged with any offences.

Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, Bebe King, 6, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, all died in the attack by Rudakubana on July 29 last year in Southport, Merseyside.

Illustration of Axel Rudakubana appearing via videolink during a preparatory hearing at Liverpool Crown Court.
The parents of the Southport attack victims have urged cops to re-consider whether Axel Rudakubana’s parents should be charged with any offencesCredit: PA

The then 17-year-old, who is serving a life sentence in prison, also attempted to murder ten other people.

The families of his victims today/yesterday encouraged cops to re-open their investigation into whether Rudakubana’s parents should have done more to stop him.

Solicitor Chris Walker, of legal firm Bond Turner, which is representing the families of the three dead girls, said: “On behalf of the three bereaved families, we wish to express our full support for any reopening or re-examination of the evidence in relation to the conduct of AR’s parents.

“Any further inquiry into the behaviour in question is unequivocally supported by all of our clients.

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“We are confident that a criminal investigation will conclude that an offence has been committed.”

Dad Alphonse Rudakubana and wife Laetitia Muzayire, both gave evidence to the Southport Inquiry last week.

They apologised to the bereaved families during the hearings at Liverpool Town Hall.

But the inquiry heard a week before the murders Mr Rudakubana had stopped his son from getting into a taxi because he believed he was going to carry out an attack at his former school.

In a message to his wife later that day, he said: “Our child needs to be protected. Imagine how those things have faded away and he could have been killed or imprisoned for good/for life.”

Mr Rudakubana accepted that by this time he was aware that his son had access to a “small arsenal of weapons” in the home, including a bow and arrow and a knife.

He said he regretted not calling the police after accepting delivery of a machete his son had ordered in June 2023.

In her evidence, Ms Muzayire told the inquiry: “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.”

A Merseyside Police spokeswoman said: “We will obtain full transcripts from the inquiry and assess whether new information was provided that wasn’t known.”

She said a file had not been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) before because evidence did not “pass the police threshold”, meaning there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction for any offence.

The Attorney General provided an undertaking to the inquiry, meaning evidence given can not be used in any investigation or prosecution of the witness who gave it, either generally or for specific offences.

Collage of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, and Alice da Silva Aguiar.
Elsie Dot Stancombe, centre, Bebe King, left, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, right, all died in the attack by Rudakubana on July 29 last year in Southport, MerseysideCredit: PA

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