By Iona Young,Patrick Eldrich

Copyright dailyrecord

The brother of Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has spoken out for the first time during an inquiry into the horrific crimes. The Southport killer’s older brother Dion has commented publicly for the first time, acknowledging the “most immense pain, anguish and grief to the lives of so many people”. In a statement provided to the ongoing Southport Inquiry by his senior lawyer, Dion Rudakubana urged for the proceedings to explore “whether more could have been done” by public sector agencies to prevent the murders . Jacqueline Carey KC, who will represent Mr Rudakubana’s interests at the inquiry, added: “Dion wholeheartedly supports the inquiry’s aim to identify lessons which will minimise the prospect of such harm being caused in the future.” Axel Rudakubana was just 17 when he carried out the mass stabbing attack at the Taylor Swift-themed class at the Hart Space in Southport on July 29 last year, reports the Liverpool Echo. Armed with a knife bought on Amazon and “specifically targeting women and girls”, Rudakubana burst in while the children were making bracelets and began his attack. Rudakubana, who is only being referred to during proceedings as AR, murdered Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in the harrowing incident. He also badly injured eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as teacher and party organiser Leanne Lucas and local businessman John Hayes. Lawyers representing the interests of the victims of the attack have told the inquiry that warning signs in the preceding days, months and years had been missed and the killer’s history of disturbing and violent behaviour not addressed. In his written statement, Dion Rudakubana, who is a named core participant in the inquiry, said “AR’s expulsion from school in October 2019 and the reasons behind that exclusion plays an important part in AR becoming progressively more isolated from his friends and family”. The inquiry has heard in October 2019 Axel Rudakubana was a student at the Range High School in Formby. He was expelled for telling Childline he had repeatedly carried a knife in school and “viciously attacked” an alleged school bully. When asked during a police interview if he was willing to use a knife, he replied he was “pretty certain”. Following his expulsion he was placed into a pupil referral unit, who referred him on a number of occasions to the anti-terrorism programme Prevent. However, the process failed to recognise his dangerousness and, in the following years, he “dropped off the radar”, very rarely leaving the house. A representative for the 18 families whose children were at the dance party but did not lose their lives told the inquiry that Axel Rudakubana had “displayed a propensity for serious violence” over a number of years. The inquiry heard he had also demonstrated a “willingness to carry and to use weapons”. Proceedings have heard Rudakubana had a conviction for assaulting a child in December 2019, had been caught on a bus carrying a knife in March 2022 and for a number of years leading up to the attack had placed over a dozen orders for weapons including three machetes. Dion Rudakubana, who was born two years before his brother while his family lived in Cardiff, is a wheelchair user who attended Warwick University at the time of the attack. His lawyer has told the inquiry that “Dion was wholly unlike his brother – a thoughtful young man, of good character, studying at university”. The statement on his behalf added: “As Dion explained in his police statement, he returned home from university the weekend before the attacks and in that statement, he sets out as best he could his knowledge of what AR was like that weekend and indeed what AR was like in the years preceding the incident. “By virtue of his studies and his disability, Dion had limited interaction with his brother but Dion is aware that in addition to police involvement with AR, agencies such as social services and CAMHS were also involved with his brother.” The bereaved families have questioned the responsibility of Axel Rudakubana’s family, stating they “knew and ignored the risk he posed to the public”. The inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall has heard that a “significant” theme of the proceedings will be Rudakubana’s relations with his family, in particular his behaviour in the week before the attack and what their awareness was of the weapon-obsessed teen’s online purchases. Questions are expected to be asked about Axel Rudakubana’s access to weapons, some of which were hidden away from him by his parents. The inquiry has also already heard about how his dad Alphonse pleaded with a taxi driver to not take his son to his former school because he feared he was armed with a knife and was planning an attack. Reading a statement on behalf of the Stancombes, Nicholas Bowen KC, who is representing the three bereaved families, said: “When a parent knows their child is dangerous, allows them to possess weapons and authorities have already visited the home, how is that not neglect? “If a child were malnourished or unwashed, social services would act immediately. But when a child is surrounded by weapons, involved in violent behaviour and known to be a threat, the system does nothing. That is a failure. No action was taken. Why? Our daughter paid the price for that failure. When does a parent become complicit in a crime committed by their child?” The killer was jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years in January at Liverpool Crown Court, after admitting the “sadistic” murders and attempted murders. Nicholas Moss KC, counsel for the inquiry, said the proceedings would be a “definitive account” of the attack, the background and the killer’s involvement with state agencies, including police, schools and social services. Sir Adrian Fulford, chairman of the inquiry, has promised to do everything “humanly possible” to answer the questions of bereaved families and victims. He added: “What occurred on that day has made it critically necessary, moreover, to identify all the changes that need to be implemented in order to ensure, as best as our society is able, that there is no repetition.” The first phase of the inquiry is expected to continue until November.