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.
Importantly, the material has been withheld from the open summaries provided to the family and interested persons
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.
“Importantly, the material has been withheld from the open summaries provided to the family and interested persons.
“The concern this gives rise to is a concern there’s other material which should probably be subject to a PII application, but that is not being made based on the fact it is not relevant.”
In written submissions, Mr Nicholls said Rhianan’s family “have not seen the closed sensitive material” withheld by MI5, so cannot assess its relevance to the inquest’s scope.
There is no cause for concern or alarm on the part of the family or anybody else
Neil Sheldon KC, representing the Home Office and MI5, said: “The fact that we have got the decision we have reached is the result, as you know, of the rigorous and thorough process that you and your legal team have undertaken in reviewing in conjunction with MI5 the closed sensitive material.
“The fact we have reached a decision in which no application for PII is necessary is a reflection of the thoroughness and rigorousness of that process, not any deficiency.
“It is a mark of the success and rigour of the process undertaken that it has been possible to provide to you and the family a full and complete account in open of the relevant aspects of MI5’s involvement.
“It has resulted in a situation in which closed material has been withheld.
“There is no cause for concern or alarm on the part of the family or anybody else.”
Judge Durran granted anonymity in the inquest 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.
The full inquest into Rhianan’s death will begin on February 27 at Chesterfield Coroner’s Court and is expected to last three weeks.
