Rhianan Rudd, a teenage girl who was monitored by the UK intelligence agency MI5, committed suicide after being groomed by a far-right American extremist and being accused of terrorism offenses. Rhianan, who at the time of her death was a looked after child, was only 15 when she was charged with terrorism offenses, making her the youngest person in the UK to face such charges. The charges were ultimately dropped in December 2021 due to evidence of her having been groomed by American extremist Christopher Cook. Rhianan, who had been diagnosed with autism, had been due to stand trial in March 2022.
An inquest into the circumstances surrounding Rhianan’s death was told that MI5 had given intelligence to the police, but that it had no further involvement in her arrest and charge. The hearing was also told that about 600 files totaling around 17,000 pages have been passed to the coroner as evidence ahead of a full inquest scheduled to start on February 26, 2023, that is estimated to last about three weeks.
At Chesterfield Coroner’s Court, Jesse Nicholls, representing Rhianan’s family, called for the extent of MI5’s monitoring of Rhianan to be discussed as part of proceedings. Nicholls stated that “It appears she was monitored by MI5 while being subjected to online exploitation” before questioning the circumstances that led to her death. Neil Sheldon KC, representing the Home Office including MI5, expressed their willingness to cooperate with the inquest and stated that “We maintain that this is not a case in which it is necessary to assess the substance of the underlying intelligence collected by MI5.”
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