Withheld MI5 material connected to teenager ‘not cause for concern’
Withheld MI5 material connected to teenager ‘not cause for concern’
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Some MI5 material relating to its involvement with a teenager who was charged with terrorism before she took her own life is being “withheld” from her inquest but is “not a cause for concern”, a hearing was told. Rhianan Rudd, 16, was found dead at a children’s home in Nottinghamshire on May 19 2022, a year after she was charged with terrorism offences after she was detained for downloading a bomb-making manual online and accused of plotting a terrorist attack.
A coroner previously heard that police began investigating Rhianan in September 2020 after her mother, Emily Carter, referred her to the anti-radicalisation scheme Prevent. A following hearing was told MI5 had been “monitoring” Rhianan and “provided police with intelligence” during their criminal investigation.
Rhianan, who had autism, was due to stand trial in March 2022, but the charges were dropped five months before her death when the Home Office concluded she had been groomed and exploited by an American extremist. Chief coroner Judge Alexia Durran heard submissions at a pre-inquest hearing on Friday at the Royal Courts of Justice.
The preliminary hearing was told that there had been no public interest immunity (PII) applications submitted, which allows parties to withhold information that would be damaging if released. Jesse Nicholls, representing Rhianan’s family, told the hearing: “The open evidence we now have is gist or a summary of the closed evidence.
