A British teenager who expressed a desire to bomb a synagogue and developed an obsession with Adolf Hitler was drawn into far-right extremism by two American neo-Nazis, a British coroner revealed on June 9. Rhianan Rudd, aged 16, died by suicide in May 2022 at a children’s care home. Prior to her death, she had been under investigation by police and the domestic intelligence agency MI5 due to her extremist beliefs.

Her mother had flagged concerns two years earlier, referring her to the UK’s counter-radicalisation program, Prevent. At age 14, Rudd became the youngest girl in the UK to be charged with terrorism-related offences, although those charges were later dropped. During the inquest into her death, Chief Coroner Alexia Durran stated that Rudd was first influenced by her mother’s former partner, a violent American neo-Nazi. She was later further radicalised by Chris Cook, a U.S.-based white supremacist who was imprisoned in 2023 for plotting to sabotage power infrastructure.

According to Durran, Rudd—who was autistic—became deeply immersed in fascist ideology, going so far as to carve a swastika into her forehead and download information on how to build explosives and 3D-printed firearms. The coroner concluded that both Mallaburn and Cook were key figures in her radicalisation, having significantly contributed to her attraction to extremist content.

Rudd’s mother, Emily Carter, expressed that the prolonged scrutiny from law enforcement and MI5 may have contributed to her daughter’s tragic outcome. She urged authorities to learn from the case to prevent future tragedies. Although social workers had earlier suspected that Rudd might have been sexually exploited, the terrorism charges against her weren’t dismissed until August 2021. Nevertheless, Coroner Durran ruled that state agencies had acted appropriately and were justified in their investigations, adding that any failures in the system were not widespread.

The case highlights growing concerns in the UK about the online radicalisation of youth. MI5 has reported that minors now make up 13% of its investigations—a sharp rise in recent years. Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service extended its condolences to Rudd’s family, noting the gravity of the situation. “This is a tragic case,” said CPS legal director Nick Price. “We take decisions about prosecuting young or vulnerable individuals extremely seriously.”