Inquest into death of teenage girl charged with terror offences to begin

An inquest into the death of a teenage girl who was monitored by MI5 and charged with terrorism offences is expected to start on Thursday.

Rhianan Rudd, 16, was found dead at a children’s home in Nottinghamshire on May 19 2022, a year 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, from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, in September 2020 after her mother, Emily Carter, referred her to the anti-radicalisation scheme Prevent over concerns about her contact with extremists in the US.

Rhianan, who had autism, was the youngest person ever to be charged with terror offences in the UK and 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.

A three-week inquest at Chesterfield Coroners Court will be heard by chief coroner Judge Alexia Durran between February 27 and March 21.

It will look at the circumstances surrounding the investigation into the teenager, the impact of the prosecution on her mental health before and after the charges were dropped, and whether care and support provided to her was appropriate.

The inquest is expected to hear evidence from agencies including MI5, the Crown Prosecution Service, Derbyshire Police, social services, NHS Trusts responsible for mental health input and the care home where Rhianan was living before her death.

At a pre-inquest review hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in January, Judge Durran granted anonymity to a senior MI5 officer involved in Rhianan’s case, provisionally called Witness A, on the basis that identifying them would put them and their family at serious risk.