Groomed girl who died charged without 'full picture'

Prosecutors charged a girl with terrorism offences without the "full evidential picture" of her exploitation by a far-right extremist, an inquest has heard.

Rhianan Rudd became the youngest girl in the UK to be charged with terror offences after downloading bomb-making guides and making verbal threats to "blow up a synagogue", Chesterfield Coroner's Court was told.

After charges against her were discontinued, Rhianan was found dead in a children's home in Nottinghamshire in May 2022, at the age of 16.

Nick Price, former prosecutor in the counter-terrorism unit of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: "Material was outstanding which ideally we have would have possessed."

The inquest into Rhianan's death was previously told she was groomed by neo-Nazi Chris Cook, from the US, who sent her "racially-motivated links" to read.

Her mother, Emily Carter, referred her daughter to the deradicalisation programme Prevent in September 2020, and Rhianan, who was autistic, was later investigated by counter-terrorism police and MI5.

On 20 October 2020, police and MI5 had decided Rhianan would not be arrested because it was "believed to risk some impact on her mental health", and "could possibly lead to further self-harm and suicide attempts".

But after Rhianan was admitted to hospital that same day after carving a swastika on to her forehead, the court was told a decision was made the following day to arrest her due to "new information and a risk to others".

Giving evidence on Friday, Mr Price detailed the events around Rhianan's charge in April 2021, a case review a few months later in October and the eventual dropping of charges in December of that year.

The inquest heard Rhianan, from Bolsover in Derbyshire, was arrested at Sheffield bus station after breaching conditions of her bail on 15 April 2021. She was charged the same day with six terrorism offences.

Rhianan went to live at Bluebell House Residential Home as part of her bail conditions.

Charges were dropped in late December in 2021, after a Home Office unit that deals with modern slavery and trafficking made a formal finding that she was a victim of exploitation.

But the court heard the referral to the Home Office was not made by police after they began investigating Rhianan in autumn 2020.

Rather, the inquest heard it was only made at the instigation of defence lawyers – four days after she was charged in April 2021.

Mr Price, of the CPS, was asked about the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) – a framework that identifies potential victims of modern slavery including human trafficking and forced servitude.

Family lawyers have said Rhianan should have been referred in this way and treated as a victim of grooming.

On the initial arrest in October 2020, Mr Price said: "It was very early stages for us."

He told the court there "was no evidence they were aware of" that there had been a "geographical move", which would usually be considered in cases of modern slavery.

But he added the CPS could not make the referral and it was down to others like the police to do this.

Asked about the charge and the knowledge of Rhianan being a victim of grooming, Mr Price said the special crown prosecutor had "already been reviewing evidence" to make a charging decision.

He added the MI5 investigation that highlighted Chris Cook – described in court as a far-right neo-Nazi extremist from the US – was not initially known to the CPS.

"Material was outstanding which ideally we have would have possessed... relevant material was not considered because it wasn't available to be considered," he said.

"We were approached on a urgent basis by the police through circumstances we heard – the fact Rhianan breached her bail conditions and was arrested in Sheffield – those are the circumstances.

"We were trying to understand the full evidential picture."

Jesse Nicholls, on behalf of Rhianan's family, asked if the CPS was aware that charging Rhianan would have a "significantly negatively impact" on her mental health, including because she was autistic.

Mr Price said: "We would, as experienced prosecutors, be absolutely aware of the impact that criminal proceedings have on young people, particularly on those with the characteristics described."

"After the charging decision, there was a lot of material given to us as the year went on," he added.

The court heard a case review in October 2021 took account of new developments, which included Rhianan's autism diagnosis. The review considered the "evidential matters", but the CPS still said it was "in the public interest" not to drop the charges.

The following month, the CPS received information indicating that Rhianan was "on the balance of probabilities a victim of criminal and sexual exploitation", which meant the case was "carefully re-reviewed", the court was told.

Her charges were dropped, the court heard, because of her autism diagnosis and "other material" which demonstrated her vulnerabilities and "passed doubt on the legitimacy of her intention".

There "no longer remained a realistic case of prosecution", the inquest was told.

The inquest continues.

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