Overview

• Bereaved parents urged truth, accountability and reform, with their counsel asking when a parent becomes complicit if a dangerous child is allowed to keep weapons.
• The inquiry heard evidence that knives and machetes were ordered to the family home, that a machete was hidden in the parents’ wardrobe, and that the parents believed their son had simply gone for a walk on the day of the attack.
• Counsel recounted a week‑earlier incident in which the father begged a taxi driver not to take his son, fearing he was headed to his former school with a knife.
• The panel was told the attacker appeared to target girls by choosing a Taylor Swift‑themed class, while lawyers detailed a history of Prevent referrals, school violence and online searches for violent material.
• Representatives for teachers and an injured rescuer praised their actions but reported ‘vile’ social‑media abuse, as the first phase of hearings continues under Sir Adrian Fulford through November.