Father of Bristol far-right extremist says agencies failed teenage daughter
Alina Burns was jailed after attacking a Kurdish man with an axe
Last updated 7 hours ago
The father of a Bristol teenager jailed for attempting to behead a Kurdish barber after becoming radicalised by the far right has accused the police and mental health services of failing his daughter.
Alina Burns was jailed for more than 15 years last month after attacking Mohammed Mahmoodi, 27, with an axe in Bristol.
Her father, Luke, 52, said his daughter had been let down by several agencies and expressed frustration police had not told him about her radicalisation.
“I think we just feel very guilty that this had happened, that we had failed her,” he said.
“But in the back of our minds it’s not just we failed her. Everyone failed her.
“You go back to the police, you go back to CAMHS, you go back to hospital education, you go back to the school, you go back all the way back.
“Everyone failed her. She wanted a purpose in life, but she was denied it. She was not able to do GCSEs, she was not able to have a future.
“It is devastating.”
Burns is autistic and has anorexia and when she was younger was involved with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
“Different organisations were involved when going back to the homelessness period of time, but there was not enough support for Alina in school,” he said.
“Once it was decided by CAMHS that she was too unwell to attend school and then due to a miscommunication between the school, Bristol City Council and hospital education, no referral was ever made.
“She was literally abandoned.”
The 19-year-old had been radicalised by neo-Nazi extremism and had been in contact with far-right groups.
In an interview with the Press Association, Mr Burns warned other parents of the dangers that isolated and vulnerable young people, such as his daughter, faced while online.
“It was not something she was explaining to us, so it must have been extremely quick simply because she had only had the laptop for a number of months,” he said.
“Before May she had expressed a few views, which were very Reform-type views, to us. But nothing more than that.
“It was not as if she was openly stating views that were controversial. There was nothing of concern. She had never had any violent tendencies.
“There was no concern at all that she would be aggressive or violent to anybody. That was completely out of character and completely unacceptable.
“The attack was shocking and we are shocked that it happened and were just very grateful that the victim was not injured in a physical sense more than what he was.
“She was absolutely lovely at home, she was lovely with her brother who has severe disabilities.
“There was never a concern, there was nothing to raise suspicion.”
The family only later learned that concerns had been raised about the teenager months before the attack, when she told an older man she had met on a dating site to “kill all Jews and Muslims”.
Avon and Somerset Police referred the report to Counter Terrorism Policing, which concluded it did not meet the threshold for an investigation.
Mr Burns said he was “furious” after learning from news reports following his daughter’s sentencing that the earlier referral had been made to counter terrorism officers.
“I mean we could have stopped her, we could have made sure this didn’t happen,” he said.
“For that information not to be released to us in May, that is a significant failure. But that could have been released in June or July.
“The laptop she was using was a Christmas present that year. If we were aware that she was using that inappropriately, then obviously we could have somehow restricted her.
“We could have intervened, we could have had conversations with her. There was no reason why she would not have listened to us.”
Burns attacked Mr Mahmoodi with the axe as he stood outside a barber’s shop in East Street, Bedminster, Bristol in August last year, causing a small wound to his neck.
That morning her parents had reported her missing to police because they had become concerned for her welfare and she was not answering her mother’s mobile phone that she had borrowed.
They feared it could be the latest in a series of self-harming incidents.
In the May she had been taken into custody by police because of fears for her welfare but after a mental health assessment was taken home to her parents, who are both teachers.
“People should not be released back to the family without a proper care plan,” he said.
“If somebody has attempted to take their life there has to be dedicated teams involved to make sure that person is safe.
“You cannot just return them to the home and literally say, your responsibility.”
Mr Burns has made two complaints to the police regarding his daughter’s case relating to her release from custody in May, and the second about the referral to Counter Terrorism Policing.
“Alina’s GP made it very clear that they were not happy that no referral was made to them,” he said.
“They felt there had been a misstep in helping her. There should have been a care plan in place and she should not have just been brought home.
“Counter Terrorism Policing were aware of concerns that they had received a referral from Avon and Somerset Police in March 2025 and they considered it did not meet the threshold and referred it back to Avon and Somerset.
“That was two months before the May incident. They were aware there was an on-going issue – they should have informed us.”
Burns, of Bristol, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and three charges of having an article with a blade or point – specifically an axe, a scalpel and two darts.
The sentencing judge imposed a custodial sentence of 15-and-a-half years and an additional four-year period on licence.
An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said: “We received a formal complaint from the family of Alina Burns in relation to a concern for safety-related incident in Bedminster in May 2025.
“Following a thorough investigation by our professional standards department into the actions we took, it was determined that advice was sought from mental health professionals, appropriate safeguarding risk assessments were completed and all relevant policies and procedures were followed.
“The service provided by the police in this case was deemed to be acceptable.”
The force said it was assessing a further complaint from the family regarding the counter terrorism referral.
“We will keep the complainant updated on the progress of the assessment and any subsequent investigation,” they added.
A Counter Terrorism Policing South West spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that CTP South West received information relating to messages that Burns had sent to another individual on a messaging platform.
“Those messages were assessed by specialist officers, and it was found that no further action was to be taken by CTP and these were passed to the local force for safeguarding purposes.
“Since the awful attack on the August 2, we have conducted a thorough review of the decision-making related to those messages and learning has been identified.”