Southport killings inquiry verdict.

The part that shocked me was that the parents were aware of weapons including machetes being delivered to their home…

Yes, that is shocking.

They would have been aware, I'm sure that he would have been arrested just for having them in the house.

They were deluding themselves, as some people can of their children or N and D .."he won't really use them...."

And had they turned him in, probably he would have been sectioned, and it would not have happened. Horrible, appalling consequences, and they have to live with it too all their lives.
and the hatred of others.

Having said that, and making no excuses for his acts - MH are stretched so far that unless he had been in their spotlights recently, the authorities would not have been on the look out for him.

Wyllow3 I think you should rethink your last paragraph in view of the facts.

I will cross check Marg later with more time.

A step in the right direction from this horrific event will be that parents are held responsible for their children’s actions.

I have just listened to the BBC News and the boy's father said he did not want to report everything going on to the authorities as he didn't want his son to be taken away.
It beggars belief.

As heartbreaking as the actual incident itself is, it's even more so when you discover that the likelihood is that it could well have been prevented. I only hope that this is not yet another case of 'lessons have been learned' - until the next time. My thoughts are with the families of those three little girls - today must be incredibly difficult for them.

The part that shocked me was that the parents were aware of weapons including machetes being delivered to their home…

Completely agree with that. They knew everything that went on in that house. And if he wasn’t working, had any income, how was he paying for the weapons he was buying online? It wasn't his older brother; he was away at university and was terrified of him. So who paid for the weapons? The people who signed for them on delivery? In my opinion they should have faced charges for aiding and abetting a murderer; instead they were put in hiding so that they can live their lives in peace. Unlike their victims families.

I listened to a significant chunk of the inquiry verdict being read out. It’s an impressive document and will, I expect be as I influential as those of Louis Blom Cooper and Baroness Butler Sloss were in children’s safeguarding. Before anyone reminds me, children still die at the hands of manipulative abusive carers and parents. I know,

Caring for complex adolescents like AR is challenging. I need to read more but my initial thoughts now are as they were in the days after his murderous rage. I fitted the criteria for Care Proceedings. The la would have shared Parental Responsibility. an independent Children’s Guardian would have been Court appointed. It’s impossible to think he’d have been allowed to remain in his parents care. A senior Judge would have reviewed reports. AR met the criterion to be made subject to. Secure Accommodation Order as being a risk to others. Children there are locked on. They’re highly supervised and assessed. The extent of the danger he presented would have been inescapably proved.

The system here seemed to totally lack a senior, named individual, ultimately responsible to safeguard others from this clearly dangerous young man.

Those little girls, their teachers and loved ones, I have no words can feel both angry and weepy.

Exactly, Iam64 - I don't doubt for one second that his was a challenging case, but there should have been one person responsible for the safeguarding. I know how easily things can 'slip through the net' though - I almost lost my own GS because one social work department failed to pass on a report to another.

I am glad the parents are being blamed. I recall that their son was offered placements at two different schools, Special schools I believe, and he 'declined to attend.'
Had they acted responsibly towards their son, those girls would be alive.

Cardamom

^The part that shocked me was that the parents were aware of weapons including machetes being delivered to their home…^

Completely agree with that. They knew everything that went on in that house. And if he wasn’t working, had any income, how was he paying for the weapons he was buying online? It wasn't his older brother; he was away at university and was terrified of him. So who paid for the weapons? The people who signed for them on delivery? In my opinion they should have faced charges for aiding and abetting a murderer; instead they were put in hiding so that they can live their lives in peace. Unlike their victims families.

I believe the parents are culpable and should face charges too.
They knew about the weapons, he had been under the "care" of MH services and the father had stopped him from leaving the house with a knife before that incident. He had taken weapons into school too. The parents were worried he might be taken away. No thought for the parents of any other children, only themselves.
He was a ticking time bomb.

He had been discharged by Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) at Alder Hey Children's Hospital on July 23, 2024, with a note stating his risk to others was "minimal".
The staff responsible should be named and they should be sacked as they are not fit for the rôle.

How can anyone just order weapons!

I watched the report being read, live, by the Chairman of the committee.
I became increasingly angered by the number of people in positions of responsibility who either looked the other way, didn't insist their concerns were acted upon, filed away reports or didn't follow up properly. So many agencies who were negligent.
That he asked at the end, for people to stand and observe a minute of silence for those dear little girls who were murdered had me
in tears, of both anger and sorrow. Their dear smiling faces, so sweet. Their lives over.

I thought of my dear GD, who was nine at the time and attended every dancing event she could. An innocent event, full of excited children visited by a maniac who should have been detained years beforehand as a danger to the public.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Goodness Allira- minimal risk! Yes the person responsible for that nonsense needs to be assessed and stopped working with young people. Unfortunately, not all those working in this difficult area are well trained or supervised. Huge pressures to pass cases to another agency or close it.

The staff responsible should be named and they should be sacked as they are not fit for the rôle.
The name is Dr. Anthony Molyneux.
He was responsible for the care of Axel Rudakubana.
He is a psychiatrist at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
Apparently he admitted to the inquiry that he had not read the full set of medical notes.
He was aware that AR had taken a knife into school.

Yes, he is obviously not fit for the róle.

PS I'm abroad at the moment, so reading this from BBC news. Please feel free to check to verify the accuracy.

Will people learn from this, though? Time and again we hear that 'lessons will be learned'. Yet helpless babies are still being killed by their parents because social services were not allowed to check on a child deemed 'at risk'.
Our present climate is encouraging violence. The whole system needs to be addressed. There is something sadly wrong somewhere.

What were the parents thinking, really?

Social workers have a statutory duty to investigate a safeguarding referral, if refused entry, they can call the police who will escort them into the home.

One of The recurring themes from inquiries into dead children is the absence of curiosity, the need to look deeper into concerns. For one key worker, well supervised to lead and to communicate effectively with other relevant agencies. That’s relevant in this case.
Tony Blair’s Every Child Matters orange book guidance for social workers was a positive aid.
Sadly, the wheel keeps being reinvented

Crikey of course the important thing in this discussion is to report whatever fgt said. Sigh.

Wyllow3

Yes, that is shocking.

They would have been aware, I'm sure that he would have been arrested just for having them in the house.

They were deluding themselves, as some people can of their children or N and D .."he won't really use them...."

And had they turned him in, probably he would have been sectioned, and it would not have happened. Horrible, appalling consequences, and they have to live with it too all their lives.
and the hatred of others.

Having said that, and making no excuses for his acts - MH are stretched so far that unless he had been in their spotlights recently, the authorities would not have been on the look out for him.

He was permanently expelled from his school 3 years before he murdered those children, why, he was caught for the third time carrying a knife 🤬
All the departments dealing with him put his behaviour down to being autistic🤬
Listen/ read the whole report.

I’m relieved the inquiry has knocked the nonsense on the head, that attributed his violent, obsessive behaviour to autism.

Iam64

Social workers have a statutory duty to investigate a safeguarding referral, if refused entry, they can call the police who will escort them into the home.

One of The recurring themes from inquiries into dead children is the absence of curiosity, the need to look deeper into concerns. For one key worker, well supervised to lead and to communicate effectively with other relevant agencies. That’s relevant in this case.
Tony Blair’s Every Child Matters orange book guidance for social workers was a positive aid.
Sadly, the wheel keeps being reinvented

It’s all so tragic, and so pointless, like all the other awful tragic pointless deaths that have hit the headlines due to safeguarding either being ignored or not applied properly.

My heart goes out to all victims, but it also makes me very very angry.