MI5 knew UK’s youngest female terror suspect was groomed, investigation finds
MI5 had evidence that a 15-year-old girl charged with terrorism offences had been a victim of grooming and sexual exploitation, it has been claimed.
Rhianan Rudd, became the youngest girl in the UK to face terror charges, over allegations she had downloaded a bomb making manual after becoming obsessed with far-Right extremism.
The charges were later dropped when the Home Office concluded that she had been exploited, but the schoolgirl took her own life in a children’s home in May 2022.
An investigation by the BBC claims MI5, who investigated Rhianan, knew she had been coerced and groomed by an American neo-Nazi called Christopher Cook before she was charged.
It is claimed an FBI investigation uncovered messages and images from Cook’s devices showing Rhianan being groomed, coerced and exploited and that this material was passed to MI5.
Her mother Emily Carter, has said investigators should have treated her daughter “as a victim rather than a terrorist”.
Mother referred Rhianan to Prevent
Rhianan, who was born in Essex and later moved to Derbyshire, had been diagnosed with autism and had a history of running away from home.
At the age of 14 she became obsessed with far-Right extremism and began communicating with American neo-Nazis.
In September 2020 her mother became so concerned that she referred her to the Government’s de-radicalisation Prevent programme.
But weeks later she was arrested by counter terror police and bailed while a detailed investigation was carried out.
She spent six months on bail during which time she began self harming and attempted suicide.
In April 2021 she was charged with six terrorism offences, but days later her case was referred to the Home Office of one of possible exploitation.
It was a further seven months before the charges were dropped, but her mother claims her mental health deteriorated significantly during this period.
She took her own life while in care in Derbyshire last summer and an inquest has been opened and adjourned.
Her mother told the BBC: “They should have seen her as a victim rather than a terrorist. She’s a child, an autistic child. She should have been treated as a child that had been groomed and sexually exploited.”
Cook, the American who exploited Rhianan, has pleaded guilty in the US to a neo-Nazi terrorist plot along with others to destroy a power grid. He had been on bail awaiting sentencing.
