A retired judge has determined that the 2024 stabbing deaths of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, U.K. could have been completely prevented. The finding comes from a 763-page report released April 13, 2026, following a nine-week public inquiry into one of Britain’s worst attacks on children.
Sir Adrian Fulford, who led the investigation, described years of failures by multiple agencies and the attacker’s parents that allowed Axel Rudakubana to kill Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, on July 29, 2024. Ten others were wounded and 16 more — including many children — continue to suffer serious psychological trauma.
The judge characterized the killings as unprecedented in the U.K. for their “extreme and very particular depravity.” His report includes 67 recommendations designed to prevent similar tragedies.
According to Fulford’s findings, Rudakubana’s parents — who moved to the U.K. from Rwanda — created “significant obstacles” that prevented agencies from properly accessing their son and evaluating the threat he posed. If the family had shared their full concerns with authorities in late July 2024, just days before the massacre, it would “almost certainly” have been stopped.
Both parents testified remotely during the inquiry. Rudakubana’s mother stated: “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.”
The report documents a disturbing pattern of warning signs dating back years. Rudakubana was referred to Prevent — the U.K. government’s anti-extremism program — three times between 2019 and 2021 after showing interest in the 2017 London Bridge attack, school shootings, and the Irish Republican Army. Agency after agency closed his case without taking responsibility for the danger he presented.
In December 2019, when Rudakubana was 13, he brought a kitchen knife and hockey stick to Range High School in Formby and attacked another student. Fulford identified this as a “watershed event” that should have led agencies to classify him as a high risk of harm to others. He was given a 10-month referral order.
Perhaps the most critical failure occurred in March 2022. Police found Rudakubana carrying a knife on a bus. He told them he wanted to stab someone and admitted attempting to make poison. Lancashire Constabulary accepted it had missed a chance to arrest him. An arrest would have triggered a home search likely to reveal ricin seeds he had bought and terrorist materials on his computer, including an Al-Qaeda training manual.
Police were summoned to his home five times during that period. He was expelled from school after admitting he had brought a knife on 10 separate occasions. At his next school, he barely attended and eventually cut off all contact with social workers.
On the morning of the attack, Rudakubana took a taxi to the Hart Space dance studio, having booked it under a false name. Wearing a surgical mask and green hoodie, he walked through the unlocked front door at 11:45 a.m. with an 8-inch chef’s knife purchased online using an alias. Two girls died at the scene and a third the next day. Police arriving at the studio found him standing over Bebe King’s body, still armed.
Following his arrest, Rudakubana told police: “I’m glad those kids are dead, it makes me happy.” Prosecutors noted that two of his victims sustained at least 85 and 122 sharp force injuries. No clear motive was ever identified. The attack sparked days of nationwide rioting driven by online misinformation about who the attacker was.
In January 2025, Rudakubana pleaded guilty to all 16 charges and received a life sentence with a 52-year minimum term.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the report as “harrowing” and promised “total determination” to implement changes across government. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood was scheduled to address the House of Commons after the report’s publication. The government has committed to sweeping reforms based on all 67 recommendations, including new legislation to address an “ideology loophole” for non-political mass casualty plots and better monitoring of at-risk children’s internet activity.
A second inquiry phase will explore whether authorities need expanded powers to restrict or monitor internet access for children who present risks to others.
