John Healey says he hopes Axel Rudakubana, 18, spends rest of his life in prison for murder of three girls. A senior UK cabinet minister has said he hopes the Southport killer will never leave prison and confirmed that “nothing is off the table” in possible reforms to sentencing as a result of the attack.
![[Axel Rudakubana.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/22095bccf254290d2522a9253d0acb34f99a0fd8/0_0_3150_4200/master/3150.jpg?width=120&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
On Thursday, Axel Rudakubana was sentenced to 52 years in prison for the murder of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, at a dance class last July, the attempted murder of eight others, as well as two adults who tried to save them. He avoided a whole-life term because he was 17 at the time of the murders.
The defence secretary, John Healey, said Rudakubana should stay in prison for the rest of his life as ministers reviewed sentencing guidelines. Asked on Sky News if a life order should be used for murderers who were close to the age of 18, Healy said: “The judge passed a sentence yesterday of 52 years and made it clear that he doesn’t think that Rudakubana will ever get out of prison, and I hope that is the case.”.
The Labour MP for Southport, Patrick Hurley, said the sentence was “unduly lenient”. Writing on X he said he had asked the attorney general, Richard Hermer, to urgently review Rudakubana’s sentence, “with a view to making sure he is never released … My community deserves nothing less.”.
Healey said: “The prime minister is right to say: ‘Now nothing is off the table.’ We need to make any changes that are necessary. That means that we don’t just get justice for these victims but we get the changes that they deserve, and we will deliver that.”.
