Axel Rudakubana’s teacher was “shut up” by mental health workers who accused her of “racially profiling a black boy with a knife”, the Southport Inquiry has heard.
The triple murderer was enrolled at the Acorns School in Ormskirk, Lancashire after he was expelled from mainstream education for taking a knife to lessons.
Speaking at the public inquiry into Rudakubana’s background crimes, his former headteacher Joanne Hodson said she realised he was “very high risk” from his first day aged just 13.
She said she had sent an email to her staff telling them Rudakubana needed to be searched for knives regularly because he had not shown any emotion or remorse.
However, Ms Hodson said she later removed a description of Rudakubana as “sinister” and “cold and calculating” from his education plan after she was accused by mental health workers of racially profiling “a black boy with a knife”.
She said the accusation “shut her up” and “closed her down professionally”.
Ms Hodson also described her “memorable” first meeting with Rudakubana when she asked him why he had previously taken a knife to school.
She said: “He looked me in the eyes and said ‘to use it’.
Joanne Hodson realised Axel Rudakubana was ‘very high risk’ soon after meeting him
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SOUTHPORT INQUIRY
“This is the only time in my career that a pupil has said this to me or behaved in a manner so devoid of any remorse.”
The headteacher explained her surprise that Rudakubana’s parents, who were also in the meeting, “didn’t flinch” at his comment – but simply accepted it as an explanation.
She believed they thought of their son as a “good boy” who had been bullied before and therefore his behaviour was “someone else’s fault”.
Ms Hodson’s worry was so great that she sent an email to the staff of the school and she told the inquiry: “AR [Rudakubana] was a highly unusual pupil, the most unusual I had experiences during my career.
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Axel Rudakubana was said to have shown no emotion or remorse about his actions while he was at school
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PA
“At Acorns, we educate and support young people with a range of complex needs, however, I’ve mever come across a pupil like AR.
“He was incredibly difficult to read and had an unusual energy and was unpredictable. There was a sinister undertone, and it was difficult to build rapport.
“He had no respect for authority and generally a lack of respect of other pupils and staff. He was insistent that his views alone were correct and everyone else was wrong.
“There was never any sense of remorse or accountability for his actions. Those features are, in my view, extraordinary.”
An inquiry into Axel Rudakubana’s actions in Southport is ongoing at Liverpool Town Hall
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Soon after joining Ms Hodson’s school in 2019, Rudakubana began to look up school shootings online and threatening staff and fellow students.
On December 5, 2019, he travelled to The Range High School in Formby and attacked a student with a hockey stick.
Authorities also found a knife in his bag.
At this point, Acorns had already referred him to the Government’s counter-terrorism programme, Prevent.
However, this referral and numerous others over the following years, he was never considered to have met the threshold for further investigation.
The inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall continues.
