NI firm among those that ‘did not know’ machete was in parcel to Southport attacker

The blade, from website Hunting and Knives, was ordered by Axel Rudakubana, then 17, in October 2023 using a driving licence which belonged to a man aged in his 60s and living in London.

It was found in a holdall under his bed when police searched his home in Banks, Lancashire, after the attack on July 29 last year in which he killed Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and attempted to murder 10 others.

The Southport Inquiry, at Liverpool Town Hall, has heard the teenager ordered three machetes online in 2023 but two were sent using age-verified delivery.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, Stephen Henderson said he had not realised at the time that Ageo Wholesale, which runs Hunting and Knives, was using his firm, Northern Ireland-based SJ Henderson F