Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana sentenced to 52 years in jail

WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT: Axel Rudakubana shocked the nation when he stabbed three young girls to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class – as horrific details of the rampage is revealed

Triple child-killer Axel Rudakubana has been sentenced to minimum of 52 years behind bars after admitting to murdering three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport. Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were brutally slaughtered by Rudakubana in The Hart Space on a small business park in the seaside town shortly before midday on July 29.

The heartless monster, who was nine days away from turning 18 at the time of the killings, admitted to the 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. Judge Goose added that it is “highly unlikely” he will ever be released.

Details of the horrific killings – including the twisted teenager stabbing little Bebe 122 times – were relayed to the court by the prosecution in Liverpool Crown Court before the judge read out Rudakubana’s sentence. The proceedings began chaotically as the killer shouted from the dock about “feeling ill” and suffering “chest pains” before he was removed by the judge.

The court heard shocking details of Rudakubana rampage as horrified relations of the victims listened from the gallery. Prosecuting Deanna Heer KC told the court six-year-old Bebe King was pronounced dead at the scene just after 1pm.

A post mortem found that she had suffered at least 122 sharp force injuries, meaning Rudakubana had kniffed the child over 100 times. Heer said she was found on the landing, outside the studio door, but forensic evidence suggested she was injured within the studio before she made it out onto the landing, and that she sustained further blows whilst lying on the floor.

Ms Heer said Elsie Dot Stancombe was pronounced dead at the scene. She said her body was found lying just inside the door to the studio but blood pattern examination suggested that she was initially attacked by the window.

A trail of her blood led from there towards the door where it appears she collapsed before she could get out of the room, the prosecutor said.

Ms Heer said blood staining suggested that she received further blows after he had collapsed whilst she was lying on the floor. She said a postmortem examination found that she had “at least 85 sharp force injuries”.

The prosecutor then went through the many injuries Elsie sustained, including defensive injuries to her upper limbs. The prosecutor said: “In the opinion of the pathologist, her injuries were untreatable however quickly emergency help would have arrived.

“The cause of death in her case – multiple stab wounds.” Deanna Heer KC said: “Alice Da Silva Aguiar, she was nine.

“She managed to get out of the building alive but her blood was found in the studio near the tables around which the children were gathered making bracelets, suggesting she was initially stabbed in this area.

“Further spots of her blood were found on the skirting board of the stairs which could be the result of her receiving further injuries as she fled down the stairway.

“She was assessed by a paramedic outside the scene. She had sustained a number of severe wounds and her heart had stopped beating. She was taken to hospital where doctors were able to re-establish a pulse but they could not control her bleeding and despite emergency surgery, frankly her injuries were too serious to survive and she was pronounced dead at 01:20.”

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.

The ricin, a deadly poison, and the document were found during searches of the home in Old School Close which he shared with his parents, who are originally from Rwanda.

Documents about Nazi Germany, the Rwandan genocide and car bombs were found on Rudakubana’s devices during police searches of his home.

Sources said the material showed an “obsession with extreme violence” but there was no evidence he subscribed to any political or religious ideology or was “fighting for a cause”.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer addressed the nation on Tuesday to say Britain faces a new threat of terrorism from “extreme violence carried out by loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms” following the Southport murders.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced an inquiry into the case following Rudakubana’s guilty pleas, including how he “came to be so dangerous” and why Prevent “failed to identify the terrible risk” he posed to others.

Despite a previous conviction for violence, at the age of 17 he was able to order a kitchen knife from Amazon which he used to fatally stab the girls, and Ms Cooper said the Government will “bring in stronger measures to tackle knife sales online in the Crime and Policing Bill this spring.”

Unrest erupted across the country in the wake of the Southport attack, with mosques and hotels used for asylum seekers among the locations targeted.

In the hours after the stabbing, information spread online which claimed the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK on a small boat.

The day after the attack, thousands turned out for a peaceful vigil in Southport, but later a separate protest outside a mosque in the town became violent, with missiles thrown at police and vans set on fire.

More than 1,000 arrests linked to disorder across the country have been made since the attack, and hundreds have been charged and jailed.

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