How vulnerable are autistic youngsters to falling under the spell of violent extremism? The government’s anti-terror strategy suggests they are massively over-represented among those taken in by violent rhetoric.
When Axel Rudakubana brutally slaughtered three young girls in Southport, it sparked a wave of rioting and unrest around the country. Hate and anger were fuelled by misinformation from right-wing commentators and politicians that Rudakubana was an immigrant militant who had slipped through our borders before causing carnage.
But following his life sentence in January, it emerged the Cardiff-born autistic teenager had no definite or single affiliation to any political cause, but was instead fixated on death and violence.
When police searched his digital devices at home, they found a wealth of material on genocide, with images from Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and Korea. His search history showed an interest in the conflicts in Somalia and Rwanda, Nazi Germany and slavery.
Though he pleaded guilty to downloading a terror manual, Rudakubana was never treated as a terror suspect because of his lack of affiliation with a single cause.
The case has prompted a reassessment of the government’s anti-terror strategy, Prevent. Criticism has focused on the idea that the programme fails to recognise the threat posed by those who fall outside the traditional model of extremism and are not motivated by a single radical cause.
Instead, Rudakubana appears to represent the, until now, overlooked threat posed by isolated, autistic young men nursing a grievance and whose influences consist almost solely of online toxicity.
Rudakubana said he endured racist bullying at his secondary school, Range High School, in Formby. He tried to return there a week before he went on his rampage in Southport last July, dressed in the same hooded sweatshirt and surgical mask, but his father stopped him.
The government’s independent reviewer of anti-terror legislation, Jonathan Hall, was among the first to raise concerns about how growing numbers of isolated, autistic young men were coming to the attention of Prevent.
In a speech for the think tank Bright Blue in 2021, Hall said the number of autistic people referred to the anti-terror programme was “staggeringly high”.
In an email, Hall pointed out how Sir William Shawcross’s independent review of Prevent in 2023 suggested the notion of “vulnerability” had “bedevilled” discussion of the risk of terrorism.
Hall argues the idea of vulnerability has been “supercharged“ by the number of often very young autistic people arrested for terror offences.
He added, “The problem is that ‘vulnerability’ muddles susceptibility to involvement with terrorist content online, with considerations of the proper response.
“The latter often carries unrealistic implications that the health service, local authorities, or education are either designed or sufficiently resourced to deal with individuals who are often extremely isolated, living stressful lives, and now finding personal meaning in dark places online.”
There are no official statistics on the proportion of those who come into contact with the Prevent programme who have an autism diagnosis. But sources have suggested the proportion with autism, or who are neurodiverse, is between 40% and 60%.
Hall said the evidence for the view he first expressed in 2021 was based on information from counterterrorism police and his reading of the reports of terror trials and sentencing where neurodivergence was cited.
He added, “Since then, police, the UK government, and authorities worldwide have publicly recognised the strong presence of autism amongst young, mainly male individuals who are coming across the counterterrorism radar.”
Psychology professor Clare Allely, of Salford University, serves as an expert witness in cases where people with neurodevelopmental conditions, like autism, come onto Prevent’s radar. While she stressed that there is no official data, she echoed Hall’s sentiments that the numbers are very high.
Author of Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Criminal Justice System, Allely maintains that those who develop an obsession or fascination with extremism are often isolated and lonely.
Many have also endured some form of childhood trauma, like bullying, that they are haunted by and brood on in later life.
Allely stresses that only a tiny proportion of those with autism referred to Prevent commit offences
In an article last year, Allely explored a risk assessment framework for autistic offenders. The framework designed by academic psychologists Dr Nadine Salman and Professor Zainab Al-Attar highlights seven facets of autism that “may have different functional links with push and pull factors to terrorism”.
These include narrow interests, rich vivid fantasies alongside an impaired social imagination, a need for order, rules and predictability and obsessional and repetitive tendencies like collecting.
Other factors include social and communication problems, thinking styles, and sensory processing issues.
Allely stresses that only a tiny proportion of those with autism referred to Prevent commit offences. The academic said some may be referred because they develop an obsession that, while it sets alarm bells ringing, can be innocent.
For example, they may develop a fascination with guns rooted in an interest in their mechanics and how they work, rather than being an indication of violent intent.
Many find the antidote to isolation through extremist groups that can provide a sense of belonging that has been missing from their lives.
Allely says this can come not just from political extremists, but also incel (involuntarily celibate) groups where young men who struggle with relationships share misogynistic views.
She said it is not the person’s autism alone that sees them seduced by extremism, but several factors combined leave them more susceptible.
“It’s a lot of factors like social isolation, peer rejection, increased and worsening co-occurring mental health conditions like anxiety and depression,” said Allely.
They may then begin spending more time online to fulfil their need to connect with other like-minded people.
Allely says their autism can “lend itself to vulnerability“ in that they may gather “huge amounts of material“ and build up in-depth knowledge on risky subjects.
This leaves them open to exploitation by extremist groups.
In a statement, a Home Office spokesperson said those referred to Prevent “often present with a range of vulnerabilities, including, co-occurring mental health and neurodiverse conditions“.
“All referrals are assessed carefully, and clinical psychiatrists work closely with counter-terrorism police to assess risk in cases where those conditions might be present.
“Prevent has long established safeguarding duties in respect of those individuals referred to the programme and takes those duties very seriously,” the spokesperson added.
