Rudakubana’s victims (left to right) Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar (Image: Merseyside Police handout)
Southport’s innocent young victims knew nothing of “evil in the world that day” until they met , the case’s top detective has told the Daily Express.
And Det Ch Insp Jason Pye stressed how Britain’s “most evil” was defeated by “some of the good in the world” as the compassionate community, emergency services and families rallied to help the children.
Paying tribute to the victims and the bereaved families, Det Chief Insp Pye, of Merseyside Police, also spoke of his frustration at not being able to tell them just why .
He explained how his 80-strong team had just 39 days to try to comb through 32 of Rudakubana’s electrical devices, check through 164,000 internet downloads, 155,000 text messages, quiz 547 witnesses and take 405 statements – and get to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
But he stressed: “What kept us going was the strength of the victims, the bereaved families, , the stories from some of the children – just so strong.
“The majority of those children didn’t even know there was any evil in the world that day. with probably some of the good in the world coming together.
“It’s really difficult for anybody to try and understand, because we’ve not found why he’s done it, why would he pick them the most vulnerable. There’s no training course that can prepare you for it.
“That was the main thing, to make sure we did the right thing by the victims in all of this, the bereaved families and the injured, and those who are non-physically injured.
“It’s really important that we talk about them as non-physically injured, not the non-injured, because the psychological damage that they are suffering is immense.
“So I take that back to those first responders, those officers who have to go in and deal with him, still traumatised – the paramedics, people who are used to dealing with child bereavement, who have had to suffer. It’s not just one and one’s bad enough, it’s a collective.”
Don’t miss…
He said that some of the images and videos of torture and beheadings they found Rudakubana had viewed were too horrific for most of the investigators to watch.
Det Ch Supt Pye added: “We’ve protected most of the investigation team from some of the things in evidence we just decided not everybody had to see. I can’t sit here and say this has been an easy job.”
Pouring scorn on Rudakubana’s vile comments in the custody suite when he said he “was glad the children were dead” and he “achieved what I wanted to achieve”, the senior officer said: “He was assessed by a psychiatrist. He was deemed fit for interview.
“He didn’t speak in any of the interviews – but he did make remarks to individuals within custody. So we informed the families because they will come out.
“I described them as completely distasteful but it just shows he’s had absolutely no remorse whatsoever.”