How sickeningly easy it was for Southport killer Axel Rudakubana to buy knife & poison online before brutal murders
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SOUTHPORT murderer Axel Rudakubana was able to buy knives on Amazon in seconds despite being just 17 with a history of violence. The triple child killer also purchased equipment to make deadly ricin poison from the online retail giant, it emerged. Sir Keir Starmer told The Sun he will urgently change the law to stop under-18s bypassing online age checks with ease. He said: “This cannot continue.”.
![[Mugshot of Axel Rudakubana.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/axel-rudakubana-appears-undated-mugshot-965262866_1dafc8.jpg?strip=all&w=720)
Rudakubana, who fatally stabbed three young girls at a Taylor Swift dance class last July, exploited limited checks allowing blades to be sent without ID. He amassed a cache of weapons including knives, machetes and arrows, and admitted carrying a blade more than ten times.
![[Aerial view of a crime scene with police cars and forensic investigators.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/helicopter-news-images-eight-stabbed-920734038.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The killer, referred to the anti-terror programme three times, also had a conviction for a violent offence against a child at school. The Government will now introduce two-step verification for all knife web purchases. Companies will be required by law to forbid sale without a digital scan of a passport or driving licence as well as a live selfie video to verify the buyer is the ID holder.
![[Young girl wearing a Wicked-themed shirt.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/handout-photo-bebe-king-axel-965228136_b963b9.jpg?strip=all&w=720)
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs: “For a 17-year-old to be able to get the knife he used online from Amazon, that is frankly shocking.”. She also warned tech firms to clean up extreme content, including “some of the dangerous material this terrible offender accessed”.
![[Girl in white dress standing next to illuminated cross and balloon garland.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/handout-photo-alice-da-silva-965228142_b1a9f3.jpg?strip=all&w=723)
Rudakubana — who admitted murdering Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, nine — will be sentenced tomorrow. He was 17 when he ordered two survival knives to his home — a fortnight before killing three children and injuring ten more at a Taylor Swift dance workshop last July 29.
![[Photo of Elsie Dot Stancombe.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/handout-photo-elsie-dot-stancombe-965228106_15616e.jpg?strip=all&w=768)
