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An inquiry has heard how the Southport killer's father sent a "surprising" message to a social worker, urging her not to share what his son said with other services. The Southport Inquiry, which is sitting at Liverpool Town Hall, heard today (October 28) about Axel Rudakubana's interactions with social services from Lancashire County Council in the years before he carried out the horrendous knife attacks in Southport last July. The first witness providing evidence this morning was Sarah Callon, the manager of the children's and youth justice service at Lancashire County Council, the Liverpool Echo reported. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE She spoke about the interactions Rudakubana - referred to as AR during the inquiry - had with members of the team after he had gone into his old school and attacked another child with a hockey stick in December 2019. The inquiry heard that Lancashire Country Council's early help assessment team was also involved with AR and his family to help them identify their needs and plan appropriate responses around his concerning behaviour. Those gathered inside Liverpool Town Hall heard of a WhatsApp message sent by AR's father, Alphonse, to a social worker in the early help team, which appeared to be urging her not to share information with the youth justice team. The message was read out by Nicholas Moss, counsel to the inquiry. He confirmed it had been sent by Alphonse Rudakubana in November 2020. The message stated: "As you are all aware, this service is voluntary. With the child and the family at the centre. When we feel comfortable, we can inadvertently or innocently (share) personal information that no other family shares, not to say that there is something sinister but because not necessary. "Therefore we trust that you use your professional judgement not to share sensitive, irrelevant information with the youth offending team, social services, nor the school for that matter. "We treat your service like the service of a counsellor, so we expect a high degree of confidentiality and sensitivity. AR can trust you and say stuff as a child, but we don't expect you to record or share some information with others that can turn our family upside down." He added: "This is unbelievably important because we are not exchanging our family essence and dignity for some benefits that your organisation provides. "It is a really sensitive field that my words cannot express. In other words we commissioned you to help us (that is between you and us only) and to help AR receive meaningful education and that is where the school comes in." He added "I don't get why the youth offending team in charge of punishing AR has anything to do with your assessment report. They should know more than they need to see how their enforcement work and they don't need your input. "Please don't involve them anymore. Also please share with Acorns (school) only part of the report they need to improve AR's education." Asked about the message, which she had not seen before, Ms Callon described it as "surprising". Mr Moss had earlier suggested the youth justice team had treated AR "very generously" and accused them of being very "light touch" in their referrals and assessments of his behaviour. Ands he suggested that the WhatsApp message from Alphonse, would "at least for a curious professional raise the concern that Alphonse R was motivated to give the absolute minimum to the youth offending team because he saw the team as being instructed to be part of the punishment for his son?" Ms Callon agreed with this. Mr Moss asked if it is important for the early help team to share this information with the youth offending team, to which Ms Callon replied "Yes". Asked if there was any evidence that this information had been shared, she said she had not seen any evidence that it had been. Ms Callon agreed that if this attitude from Alphonse R had been passed on to the youth offending team, it would have added to the sense of scepticism about what AR's parents, particularly his dad, was reporting in the sessions. There was further scrutiny of the actions of the child and youth justice service at Lancashire County Council when an email was examined from a social worker called John Fitzpatrick, who was within that team, in February 2022. Mr Fitzpatrick had been contacted just after the service's closure of its AR case, to be sent a copy of the Prevent referral made by AR's former school Acorns, which included examples of his interest in former Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi. In response to the email, Mr Fitzpatrick simply replied: ""Hi, sorry for the late reply, AR closed to our service on 21.01.21." Asked for her assessment of this response, Ms Callon described it as "unacceptable," adding: "I would have expected more professional curiosity, rather than a response just saying he was closed to our service." Rudakubana, then aged 17, killed Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and attempted to murder 10 others at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29 last year. He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 52 years after admitting the dance party offences on the first day of his trial in January. The first phase of the inquiry, which is expected to run until November, continues.
