My son was radicalised and I didn’t dare tell the police

Radhika Sanghani hears from a mother whose teenage son developed far-right links after consuming online propaganda

- As told to Radhika Sanghani

Axel Rudakubana was 17 when he murdered three young girls in Southport in July 2024.

The horrific attack came after years of Rudakubana watching extreme and violent content online, without any supervision. A new report from the Southport Inquiry now suggests that the tragedy could have been prevented if his parents had shared all their concerns with authorities, as well as pointing out numerous missed opportunities for intervention from agencies, including the decision to reject him from the anti-terror and deradicalisation programme Prevent.

His mother told the hearing: “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. [For] our failure, we are profoundly sorry.”

The report has sparked conversations about what parents should do if they notice signs of their children being radicalised online. Below, one mother, Sarah, shares how she discovered her son John had been watching extremist content online from the age of 14, and her painful struggle in trying to work out what to do.

Sarah’s story

My son was radicalised online when he was just shy of his 15th birthday - but I had no idea. His friend showed him a meme on his phone of soldiers living on the streets because immigrants had taken all the houses. My son blindly believed it, and because we had a family member with mental health issues after being in the military, it infuriated him. It felt personal.