Judge orders killer from dock as horror of ‘sadistic’ Southport murders outlined
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A High Court judge ordered child-killer Axel Rudakubana to be removed from the dock as the full horror of the “sadistic” murders of three children in Southport were outlined. Liverpool Crown Court was told the 18-year-old said “I’m glad they’re dead” as he was held in a custody suite after killing the three girls at a Southport dance class.
Prosecutors said the injuries suffered by the Southport murder victims were “difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature”. Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died following the attack at the Taylor Swift-themed class in The Hart Space on a small business park in the seaside town shortly before midday on July 29.
The defendant, who was 17 at the time of the killings, 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. The judge, Mr Justice Goose, ordered Rudakubana to leave the dock shortly after the start of the hearing as he shouted repeatedly.
One family member shouted “coward”, while others shook their heads as he left. Rudakubana had been shouting: “It’s not my fault, I feel ill”, and repeatedly shouted for a paramedic. The court heard that Rudakubana’s killings were a “pre-meditated, planned knife attack upon multiple victims, principally young girls, intending to kill them”.
