The risk Southport killer Axel Rudakubana posed to others was toned down by professionals for fear of being accused of racism, a report into the massacre claims.
Born in Wales to parents who had fled Rwanda, he was enrolled at The Acorns School, a pupil referral unit in Ormskirk, Lancashire, at the age of 13 after being expelled from mainstream education for taking a knife into class.
Headteacher Joanne Hodson told the public inquiry that, from his first day, she realised the teenager was ‘very high risk’, with a manner ‘devoid of any remorse’.
But when she tried to raise the risk he posed to others, Mrs Hodson said she was accused by children’s mental health worker Samantha Steed of ‘racially stereotyping [Rudakubana] as “a black boy with a knife”‘.
Mrs Hodson told the inquiry that the accusation of ‘racial profiling’ had ‘effectively shut me up’.
The warning about the risk Rudakubana posed – which featured in a draft of his education, health and care plan – remained in the document.
But parts were rewritten, such as a reference to his ‘sinister’ internet use being replaced with the word ‘inappropriate’.
Inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford concluded that it was ‘unwise’ for Ms Steed ‘to raise issues of racial stereotyping’.
While there was no suggestion she made a ‘direct accusation of racial stereotyping against Mrs Hodson, the fact that such a contentious topic was raised nevertheless served to ‘close down’ Mrs Hodson,’ Sir Adrian wrote.
He added that ‘Mrs Hodson was raising a valid point about the need for a risk assessment’, and this was ‘another example of insufficient emphasis being placed on the risks that child may present to others.’
