Axel Rudakubana sentencing UPDATES as Southport killer learns fate for murdering 3 girls
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Southport killer Axel Rudakubana is set to find out the number of years he will spend behind bars for murdering three girls at a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport. After he entered the dock at Liverpool Crown Court prosecutors said the injuries suffered by his victims were “difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature”.
The court heard the killer - who was 17 at the time - said “I’m glad they’re dead” as he was held in a custody suite after the savage attack. Today he was removed from dock twice after shouting repeatedly. As an 18-year-old Rudakubana pleaded guilty to all 16 offences he faced on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday. Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died following the attack in The Hart Space on a small business park in the seaside town on July 29.
The defendant admitted their murders as well as the attempted murders of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes. Rudakubana is not expected to receive a whole-life order because he was 17 at the time of the attack and the measures can normally only be imposed on criminals aged 21 or over. They are usually only considered for those aged 18 to 20 in exceptional circumstances.
Cardiff-born Rudakubana further pleaded guilty to possessing a knife on the date of the killings, which he bought on Amazon, production of a biological toxin, ricin, on or before July 29, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism. The terrorism offence relates to a PDF file entitled Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants, The Al Qaeda Training Manual, which he is said to have possessed between August 29, 2021 and July 30, 2024.
