logo
Groomed terror suspect not treated as a ‘vulnerable child', says her mother

Groomed terror suspect not treated as a ‘vulnerable child', says her mother

The mother of an autistic teenager who was groomed and 'brainwashed' by right-wing extremists says she was not treated as a vulnerable child before she took her own life.
Rhianan Rudd, who died aged 16, had an 'obsession with Hitler', downloaded a bomb-making manual, and threatened to 'blow up' a synagogue after she was radicalised online by an American neo-Nazi.
In the 18 months before she died, Rhianan was diagnosed with autism, investigated by counter-terrorism policing and MI5, and prosecuted over terrorism charges after she had been groomed and allegedly sexually exploited by extremists.
Senior coroner Judge Alexia Durran concluded that she was not satisfied that Rhianan intended to end her own life at Chesterfield Coroner's Court on Monday.
She said that 'missed opportunities' in Rhianan's case were 'not systemic' and she will not make a prevention of future deaths report.
In an interview, Rhianan's mother, Emily Carter, said she believes the teenager's death was preventable and the agencies involved in her case need to be held accountable.
Ms Carter said: 'They need to recognise that the way they dealt with things was not the correct way, because she's dead.
'I don't ever want this to happen to another family. This has been devastating.
'If I could save just one child from these people making all their changes and making sure they follow through with everything, there's justice in my eyes – my daughter didn't kill herself for no reason.
'It was just one thing after another basically, but all of them should learn from Rhianan's death, all of them.'
Ms Carter said Rhianan was not treated as a vulnerable child, despite her autism diagnosis, and she does not believe her daughter was ever a threat to other people.
The mother said: 'She was five foot one, weighed seven stone. She was tiny.
'I don't know what people thought she could do, but I don't believe that she was ever a threat. It was just what people would put in her head – brainwashed her, basically.
'They (the agencies) treated her as a child, but I don't believe they treated her as a vulnerable child.
'If you've got vulnerable children, you take extra steps to watch them, to look after them, to make sure they feel safe, even from themselves, and they didn't. Obviously, she's dead.'
The mother said the moment 19 police officers and two detectives came to arrest her daughter at their family home was 'mind-numbing' and she felt 'violated' when officers turned her house 'upside down'.
She said: 'It hurt … the fact that they thought that my daughter was some sort of massive terrorist.
'They were going to put her in handcuffs, but the handcuffs didn't go small enough. Even on the smallest ones, they just fell off her hands. That's how small she was.'
The inquest heard that the police did not refer Rhianan to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), which identifies victims of human trafficking or modern slavery, when they began investigating her in 2020, but the referral was made by Derbyshire County Council in April 2021.
Her mother says the NRM referral should have been done 'at the very beginning' because 'they could see that she was vulnerable'.
Ms Carter added that she thinks Rhianan should not have been charged, and said: 'She was a child, a vulnerable child. A child with mental health issues.
'She should have been treated as a victim more than anything.'
The mother also said it 'angered' her that Rhianan was investigated by MI5 before her death and added: 'If they knew that my daughter was being groomed and sexually exploited online, and then you're investigating at that time, why did nobody come and stop it?
'Why watch a child be completely humiliated, sexualised, trafficked, brainwashed?'
Speaking about her daughter's autism diagnosis, Ms Carter said Rhianan would get fixated and 'sucked into' something until it was the 'be all and end all of everything'.
She said Rhianan's fixations began with My Little Pony before she became interested in German history, wanted '1940s German furniture in her bedroom', and eventually made contact with extremists on the messaging apps Telegram and Discord.
Ms Carter said: 'Finding out that she'd been groomed, and the way these people talked to her … it really changed her wholeness as a person, the way she thinks, the way she feels, everything.'
She said that Rhianan was a 'bubbly' girl but she became withdrawn after she was radicalised, and added that the extremists 'took away an innocent child' and 'took away her substance as a person'.
She said: 'After she started talking to her so-called friend online – I thought she was talking to gamer friends and friends from school – she started withdrawing.
'She stopped talking about normal things. She wasn't very bubbly, and I'd literally have to drag her out the house.'
Ms Carter said she believes Rhianan's death could have been prevented if she was placed in a mental health unit, rather than the children's home, to 'deal with her mood swings, her brain going mad'.
She said: 'They don't know a child like a mother does. Even when she was at home, I would wake up two or three times throughout the night and go and check her. These houses aren't guaranteed to do that.'
The mother added that it was 'scary' when she referred her daughter to Prevent but she 'knew it had to be done'.
She said: 'I was hoping that it was just going to take her two or three times a week to work on her mind, unpick her head, and turn her back into Rhianan.
'Not end up with all these police officers turning up arresting her and pulling my house apart. You don't expect that at all.'
The inquest heard that Rhianan took an overdose of her mother's medication after being encouraged to by the 'two competing individuals' in her mind a week before she was charged and moved to the children's home.
Recalling that moment, Ms Carter said: 'I go down the stairs and Rhianan was laying on my living room floor. And I actually thought she was dead, but she wasn't.
'She basically called them (an ambulance) when she decided that she changed her mind and didn't want to die.'
Ms Carter continued: 'I've made mistakes, and I want the organisations to put their hands up and admit they've made mistakes and to rectify their mistakes so it doesn't happen again.
'And then that way everybody can be happy, except me, because I've already lost my daughter.'
Ms Carter described Rhianan as 'loving, kind' and a 'really beautiful soul'.
She added: 'Her brother, Brandon, and Rhianan were like two peas in a pod, and he just feels completely lost without her.'
Following the inquest, Ms Carter said the family's anguish was increased by hearing that Rhianan was 'let down by the police, the Prevent anti-terror programme, Derbyshire County Council and the mental health bodies'.
In a statement read outside Chesterfield Coroner's Court on behalf of Ms Carter by Anna Moore of Leigh Day Solicitors, she added: 'The chief coroner has found that Rhianan was denied access to services which should have supported and protected her and, I believe, could have saved her life.
'Looking at the number of missed opportunities recognised by the coroner, it's hard to see how they cannot have had an impact on Rhianan's state of mind.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

MoD ‘dishonest' to call 1994 Chinook crash an accident, say families
MoD ‘dishonest' to call 1994 Chinook crash an accident, say families

The Independent

time3 hours ago

  • The Independent

MoD ‘dishonest' to call 1994 Chinook crash an accident, say families

The families of people killed in the 1994 Chinook helicopter disaster have criticised the Ministry of Defence's description of the crash as a 'tragic accident' as 'dishonest, deceitful and disingenuous'. RAF Chinook ZD576 was carrying 25 British intelligence personnel from RAF Aldergrove in Northern Ireland to a conference at Fort George near Inverness when it crashed in foggy weather on June 2 1994 on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland. All 25 passengers – made up of personnel from MI5, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Army – were killed, along with the helicopter's four crew members. The families of those who died said earlier this month that they were beginning legal action against the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for not ordering a public inquiry. They want a High Court judge to be able to review information which they say was not included in previous investigations, and which they believe will shed new light on the airworthiness of the helicopter. The families, who have coalesced into the Chinook Justice Campaign, said failing to order a public inquiry is a breach of the UK Government's human rights obligations. An MoD spokesperson said: 'The Mull of Kintyre crash was a tragic accident, and our thoughts and sympathies remain with the families, friends and colleagues of all those who died. 'We have received a pre-action protocol letter from the Chinook Justice Campaign and are considering our response. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to comment further.' Solicitor Mark Stephens, who is representing the families, said: 'The statements issued by the Ministry of Defence in recent days are so blatantly at odds with the facts as we now know them that they have caused immense upset to the families and cast a further cruel and disgraceful shadow on this ongoing travesty of justice. 'We know that the RAF helicopter carrying the 29 service personnel who were killed, serving their country, had been grounded because of fatal flaws in the software on board. 'For the MoD to claim that this was a 'tragic accident' flies in the face of the facts and is blatantly and disgracefully at odds with the truth. 'It is nothing short of dishonest, deceitful and disingenuous and we demand a retraction.' The families have also called for the release of documents that were sealed at the time of the crash for 100 years, something revealed in a BBC documentary last year. The MoD has said that records held in the National Archives contain personal information and early release of those documents would breach their data protection rights. Mr Stephens said: 'For the Government to believe that data protection laws were designed to protect someone who is living – and who may have made a dreadful decision that night – rather than the truth emerging over 29 service personnel who were killed in an unairworthy aircraft, is a total abomination. 'This decision must be overturned, these files must be seen by a judge, and we will fight this in court if necessary.' Niven Phoenix, a commercial pilot whose father Ian was one of the senior RUC officers killed in the crash, said: 'This was about as far from a tragic accident as you could get. Locking the files away until we are all dead proves there is a cover-up about something. 'The MoD's statement that these files have been sealed to protect third party interests is yet another disingenuous, distasteful and outright dishonest assertion designed to hide the truth using data protection laws which only came into force in the UK long after the crash. 'The Government would prefer for all the children of the Chinook victims to die like their parents rather than provide access, answers and take accountability for past mistakes. This is not the duty of candour promised by Keir Starmer in his election manifesto.' Following the crash, the Chinook's pilots, Flight Lieutenants Richard Cook and Jonathan Tapper, were accused of gross negligence, but this verdict was overturned by the UK Government 17 years later, following a campaign by the families. A subsequent review by Lord Philip set out 'numerous concerns' raised by those who worked on the Chinooks, with the MoD's testing centre at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire declaring the Chinook Mk2 helicopters 'unairworthy' prior to the crash.

R Kelly's lawyers accuse prison officials of ‘soliciting inmate to kill him'
R Kelly's lawyers accuse prison officials of ‘soliciting inmate to kill him'

Metro

time4 hours ago

  • Metro

R Kelly's lawyers accuse prison officials of ‘soliciting inmate to kill him'

R Kelly's lawyers are fighting to get him released from jail after claiming his life is in danger. The American singer and producer, real name Robert Sylvester Kelly, was once credited as 'the King of R&B', releasing 18 albums and having over 75 million albums and singles, as well as working on albums by Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber and Mary J. Blige. He won Grammy, Billboard and American Music Awards, but his career abruptly ended in 2019 following his arrest and subsequent sentencing for racketeering and sex trafficking charges involving the sexual abuse of minors. Kelly, 58, is currently serving a 31-year combined sentence at a prison in North Carolina. However, his legal team have now filed an emergency motion calling from his immediate release from federal custody to home detention. In a filing made on Tuesday, reviewed by Variety, his attorney Beau B. Brindley claims that the team had 'explicit evidence that officials solicited an inmate to murder him while in custody'. His counsel provided a sworn declaration from Mikeal Glenn Stine, a terminally ill inmate, who said that officials 'offered him freedom in his final days in exchange for Kelly's murder'. Stine, a member of the neo-Nazi prison gang Aryan Brotherhood, claimed that he was told Kelly and his attorneys were planning to expose damaging information, as with the filing alleging that officials violated attorney-client privilege by intercepting personal correspondence. He also stated that officials told him he would be charged with Kelly's murder, but that evidence would be mishandled and there would be no conviction. After arriving at Kelly's unit in March, Stine said he was prepared to kill the rapper but changed his mind and ended up telling the rapper that 'Bureau of Prisons officials directed him to carry out his murder'. Kelly's lawyers have claimed that last month they were told a second member of the Aryan Brotherhood who was told by officials to kill both Kelly and Stine. They have said Kelly is in danger remaining in custody with other members of the Brotherhood. 'The threat to Mr. Kelly's life continues each day that no action is taken,' they wrote in the filing. 'More A.B. members are accumulating at his facility. More than one has already been approached about carrying out his murder. 'One of them will surely do what Mr. Stine has not, thereby burying the truth about what happened in this case along with Robert Kelly.' More Trending In 2023 Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison for child sex crimes in Chicago while already serving a 30-year prison sentence over sex trafficking and racketeering charges in New York. The judge ruled he could serve 19 years at the same time, meaning the child sex crimes only added one year to his existing sentence. His convictions included three counts of coercing minors into sexual activity and three of producing sex tapes involving a minor. Metro has contacted the U.S. Attorney's Office for comment. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Taylor Swift fans convinced she's secretly married Travis Kelce MORE: It's been 20 years since Brad Pitt 'left' Jennifer Aniston for Angelina Jolie – have we learned anything? MORE: Beyoncé giving away free concert tickets to London shows after 'poor sales'

Every piece of evidence linking Christian Brueckner to Madeleine McCann
Every piece of evidence linking Christian Brueckner to Madeleine McCann

Daily Mirror

time6 hours ago

  • Daily Mirror

Every piece of evidence linking Christian Brueckner to Madeleine McCann

Police are determined to find conclusive evidence to link 48-year-old German paedophile Christian Brueckner to the Madeleine McCann case before he is set free from prison Convicted rapist and paedophile Christian Brueckner is at the centre of a desperate race against time to find new evidence in the Madeleine McCann case. The 48-year-old was formally named by German police in 2020 as the prime suspect in the three-year-old's disappearance from a Praia da Luz holiday complex back in May 2007. Brueckner, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence in his home country for rape, is set to be released from prison in September. It's feared he will disappear as soon as he is given his freedom - meaning detectives only have a few months to uncover more evidence, and definitively link him to the case. After last week's search failed to turn up any definitive answers, here's what we know about Brueckner - and why police believe he could be their man. His time in Portugal Brueckner was only a teenager himself when he was handed his first conviction for child sexual abuse in Germany in 1994. He fled to Portugal the next year in a bid to escape his youth custody sentence, but was extradited to to Germany in 1999 to serve his sentence. Upon release from prison, Brueckner went back to Portugal, where he lived a nomadic lifestyle in a VW camper van. He stole from hotels and holiday flats to support himself financially. In 2005, he raped a 72-year-old American woman, an offence for which he was jailed 14 years later. Brueckner spent time in the Praia de Luz area of Portugal between 2000 and 2017. His home was just one mile away from the Ocean Club, where the McCann family were staying when Madeleine vanished on May 3, 2007. Years later, investigators reportedly found his mobile phone had received a call close to the holiday flat complex around one hour before the three-year-old was reported missing. His time in Germany - and 'confession' Brueckner abruptly left his car in someone else's name the day after Madeleine disappeared, and exited Portugal soon after. He returned to Germany and settled in the city of Braunschweig, near Hanover. But in 2017, German police received a tip-off alleging that Brueckner had drunkenly claimed he knew what happened to Madeleine. He said to have told a friend: "She didn't scream." Detectives' initial enquiries uncovered a long criminal history, and in June 2017 he was arrested again and convicted for 'sexual abuse of a child in the act of creating and possessing child pornographic material' in a separate case. Further convictions for drug dealing and trafficking followed over the next few years, and he was handed a seven-year-sentence for rape in 2019 over the 2007 rape of the US pensioner in Portugal. In June 2020, he was officially identified by German prosecutors as a suspect in the Madeleine McCann case. Officials said the three-year-old was "assumed dead" and that Brueckner was responsible for her disappearance, though he has denied any involvement. Unearthed hard drive and more 'confessions' While investigators have been tight-lipped about what information they have linking him to Madeleine, some details have made their way into the public domain. According to a documentary by The Sun, suspicious items found in a German warehouse bought by Brueckner a year after Madeleine's disappearance included guns, 75 girl's swimming costumes, and a car with chemicals hidden in the boot. ‌ Remains of a dead dog were uncovered along with a hard-drive, as well as a number of child kidnap stories believed to have been penned by the paedophile. A former inmate in the same prison as Brueckner has also alleged that he once told him about a number of offences he had committed, including reportedly snatching a girl from a flat in Portugal. His court appearances on other offences ‌ Last year, Brueckner was acquitted of carrying out five other sexual offences in Portugal between 2000 and 2017 after a judge in Braunschweig said there was not enough evidence to convict him. But German investigators - determined to keep the dangerous Brueckner behind bars - have continued to build a case against him regarding Madeleine McCann, and last year one source said they had gained access to a Hotmail account 'related to the killing' of the young girl. In May this year, he returned to court on charges of insulting a public official. Despite prosecutors urging for an extended sentence, he was only given probation with a minimum of one additional month in prison. ‌ Before one of his court appearances, the Mirror asked him if he knew what had happened to Madeleine McCann. He responded with a smirk. 'Clothes and bones' found in new search Last Thursday, German and Portuguese investigators finished three days of searching a 120-acre stretch of land, thirty miles from Praia da Luz, in an attempt to find new evidence against Brueckner. During the search - the first to take place since 2023 - crews spent three days scouring scrubland and abandoned structures, including an abandoned farmhouse. While there, they are reported by German media to have found tiny fragments of clothes and bones, which have been sent off for testing. The Met Police, who took over the UK missing persons investigation for Madeleine in 2011, said they were "aware" of the new operation but did not have any officers involved.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store