Chilling first picture of Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana after arrest
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A chilling first picture of Axel Rudakubana - who stabbed three little girls to death in Southport last year - has been released by police. The 18-year-old today pleaded guilty to the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, after he broke into a Taylor Swift themed dance class during the school holidays last year and launched a frenzied knife attack.
Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time, took a taxi to the Hart Space community centre shortly before midday on July 29, 2024, where the class was being held around 5 miles from his home. He murdered the three youngsters and also admitted to the attempted murders of another eight children, as well as two adults, Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes.
The incident left families and the wider community devastated, and triggered widespread riots after misinformation about the attacker's identity spread widely on social media. Appearing at Liverpool Crown Court this morning, the 18-year-old admitted all offences following last year's attack. Rudakubana, who had been reported to the government's Prevent counter extremism scheme at least three times, appeared in the the dock dressed in a grey prison issue jumper with a blue medical face mask on.
He also pleaded guilty to production of a biological toxin, namely ricin, and possession of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, namely a PDF file entitled "Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual".
