Axel Rudakubana: Live updates as Southport child killer is jailed for life with minimum term of 52 years

Chief Constable of Merseyside Police Serena Kennedy described ‘calculating’ Rudakubana as the polar opposite to the young girls enjoying a day of ‘youthful innocence’.

In a statement released after his sentencing, she said:

Today Axel Rudakubana has been sentenced for his cowardly and vicious attack on the young girls who had gathered at Hart Space on July 29, 2024, to have some fun in their school holidays.

They had come together for a Taylor Swift-themed morning to enjoy dancing, singing and making friendship bracelets in honour of their idol. Those girls – who range in age from six to 13 – were the polar opposite of a calculating teenager who carried out the harrowing and atrocious, pre-meditated attack.

The victims were enjoying a day of youthful innocence untainted by twisted and unhealthy fascination with violence that drove Axel Rudakubana to carry out the atrocities he’d planned in the day’s leading up to July 29. His terrifying attack resulted in the deaths of Bebe, Elsie and Alice.

“According to prosecution counsel today, two of those children suffered particularly horrific injuries, which can only be only describe as sadistic in nature. He also attempted to kill eight other children as they escaped, and two adults and traumatised the remaining children who had managed to escape physically unharmed. Since his arrest he has shown no remorse for his actions.

More here on this breaking news as Axel Rudakubana is handed an extraordinary lengthy life sentence at Liverpool Crown Court…

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was today sentenced to life with a minimum of 52 years for the murder of three young girls during his monstrous attack on a Taylor Swift themed dance class.

The violence-obsessed 18-year-old cowardly remained in the court cell as the judge handed down his sentence after being pulled from the dock twice while shouting at the judge that he was ‘ill’.

Mr Justice Goose said it was ‘highly likely’ Rudakubana will never be released from prison after murdering Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and attempting to murder ten others.

He was also found in possession of ricin that an expert said could have killed 12,500 people with more purification.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, has been detained at Liverpool Crown Court for life with a minimum term of 52 years for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and the attempted murder of eight other children in Southport.

Mr Justice Goose said he would have handed the teenager a whole life order if he had carried out the attack after his 18th birthday but said nevertheless it was likely he would never be released from prison.

Some family members could be heard to take an audible breath as the sentence was announced.

Relatives held hands and hugged each other but remained silent as the judge announced the remaining sentences.

Mr Justice Goose has said he ‘must accept’ there was no evidence Axel Rudakubana had any terrorist cause, but added his culpability is ‘equivalent to terrorist matters, whatever its purpose’.

Mr Justice Goose said on the day of the attack there were 26 children at the event, ‘all of whom were happy and enjoying themselves’.

He said Rudakubana targeted these children for the ‘horrific extreme violence he was intent upon’.

At 11.45am he arrived, walked into the building up the stairs where he could hear the sound of happy children, in his mind with the intention to murder as many of them as he physically could. He wanted to try and carry out mass murder of innocent, happy young girls.

The judge added:

It was such extreme violence… it is difficult to comprehend why it was done. I am sure Rudakubana had the settled determination to carry out these offences and had he been able to, he would have killed each and every child – all 26 of them.

He was prevented from murdering more only by the escape of other children.

Here’s our live stream from Liverpool Crown Cpurt where Mr Justice Goose’s remarks are being recorded:

Mr Justice Goose has started to deliver his sentencing remarks at Liverpool Crown Court

In his opening, he said:

Many will describe what he did as evil. Who could dispute it? In any view, this was the most extreme, shocking and serious crime. He wanted to carry out mass murder of innocent and happy young girls.’

I’m satisfied that had he been able to, he would have killed each and every child, all 26 of them and any adults who got in the way. It’s only because some managed to escape that prevented many more from being murdered.

Rudakubana has refused to re-enter courtroom to be sentenced and said if forced to do so he would continue to be disruptive, the court has heard.

Earlier in the sentencing, Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said it was not possible to identify ‘any particular terrorist cause’ for the attack.

She said there was a specific definition of terrorism the court had to apply that was defined by section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Ms Heer said terrorism means the use or threat of action where it is designed to influence a government or to intimidate the public or a section of the public.

She said the difficulty from the prosecution’s perspective was there was no evidence the defendant’s actions were made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.

In this case I have explained what was found on the defendant’s computer devices and images relating to war, genocide and extreme violence carried out by different actors with different ideologies. In those circumstances, it is not possible to identify any particular terrorist cause.

Axel Rudakubana’s defence barrister has said ‘something changed’ in his client when he was 13 as he turned from a ‘normal, well-adjusted’ child to someone capable of carrying out senseless violence.

Stan Reiz KC said:

For offences of such wickedness the mitigation I can meaningfully advance on behalf of the defendant is limited.

There is no psychiatric evidence that could suggest a mental disorder contributed to the defendant’s actions. However, he did make a transition from a normal, well-adjusted child to someone capable of committing such shocking, senseless violence. Something changed in him when he was 13 years-old.

Mr Reiz said that Rudakubana had been diagnosed with autism.

Referring to the incident where he attacked a child with a hockey stick in 2019, the barrister told how Rudakubana’s headteacher at Range High School said: ‘Axel Rudakubana had no sense of the wrongness of what he had done’.

Mr Reiz suggested Rudakubana’s behaviour in court, such as refusing to obey requests to stand or give his name were indicative of ‘someone who is quite childlike in that when asked to conform with social norms, he rebels’.

A mother told how her partner frantically searched for their daughter in the aftermath of the attack at the Hart Space which he likened to a ‘war zone’.

The mother described being on the phone to her husband as he went to search for their daughter and her friend.

There were children lying on the floor receiving help. He talks of it now like a war zone. There was a girl lying on the ground who was wearing the same clothes (as their daughter).

She was so severely injured he wasn’t sure if it was her. He had to ask the little girl if she had a brother and what his name was.

Both she and her partner are ‘traumatised’, the mother said.

The couple’s daughter was flown to hospital by air ambulance and needed to replace ‘almost her entire blood volume through transfusions’.

The mother said: ‘Our confident, happy, beautiful little dancer now has to sit three times a day whilst we care for her scars.’

The mother of one of the injured girls said in a statement that she got her daughter tickets for the Taylor Swift themed event after she failed to get tickets for the American star’s concert in Liverpool.

The woman described how she dropped her daughter off at The Hart Space and spotted a black male, wearing a hoodie and a face mask.

She said she was ‘unnerved’ by the way he was acting.

The woman said:

Within a few minutes, I heard screaming” and said she saw girls running down the street, including her daughter. She said her daughter had blood on her legs which she first thought was make-up.

She said her daughter was ‘struggling to breathe and she didn’t want to die’. The young girl survived the stabbings but doctors had to remove her spleen.

The mother added:

At one point I thought if (she) died, I couldn’t live without her. I thought (she) would blame me for taking her to the event.

A girl who was left with a life-changing injury said she feared she was going to die ‘as I was in so much pain and there was so much blood’, the court heard.

The attempted murder victim, who was 10 at the time and still needs medical treatment, said:

It’s on my mind every day. I feel sad and scared. I think about all the other children that were there and I feel guilty I wasn’t able to help the children that died and I think, was there anything I could have done to help them?

The girl, who initially thought Rudakubana was a caretaker, said she still has nightmares ‘one or twice a week’.

She said she also worried about what might have happened if her younger sister or friends had been at the event.

Her mother said she bought her a ticket to the Hart Space event having been unable to obtain tickets for a concert by Taylor Swift in Liverpool.

The mother said she ‘constantly’ worries that ‘something bad will happen to my children’ and is ‘on edge’.

The parents of a child who was injured in the Southport attacks have told Axel Rudakubana he will not crave the ‘notoriety he desperately craves’.

In a statement read out at Liverpool Crown Court, the family, who cannot be named because their daughter has legal anonymity, said the killer had shown no remorse.

They said:

This has always been about power and control. This person has abused his power as an adult in the most extreme of ways – to exert planned, sustained and unimaginable horror over the most powerless in our society, our children.

He will not win though. He will not gain the notoriety he so desperately craves. He will not be remembered. When we think of Southport, we will think of the girls. Their bravery. Their strength.

A selfless nine-year-old who survived Axel Rudakubana’s horrifying rampage on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class has said she is ‘glad’ she was there as it ‘stopped someone else getting hurt’.

The little girl’s heartbreaking victim impact statement was among those read out at Rudakubana’s sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court today.

Rudakubana faces a life sentence after admitting the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in Southport on July 29, 2024.

The evil killer also admitted the attempted murder of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

He further pleaded guilty to possession of a knife on the day of the attack, 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.

Read more here:

Heidi Liddle, one of the dance class instructors, has told the court how she only left her house for weeks after the Southport attacks was to visit the victims in hospital or attend their funerals.

In her victim impact statement, Ms Liddle said she felt ‘completely helpless’ after the attack because she didn’t know how many children were hurt and their immediate whereabouts.

I felt isolated from everyone as I felt like I couldn’t leave my home. I was in tears constantly and didn’t feel safe in my own home. The only time I left the house in the coming weeks was to go and see Leanne and the girls at hospital or to attend the funerals of the three girls, which was heartbreaking.

I replayed the incident over and over in my mind, changing the sequence of events so that myself and the little girl I was with in the toilet, were stabbed and killed.

I struggled with everyday things, like letting the dogs out, doing any activity that involved me being hunched over, such as hoovering, drying my hair and putting my daughter to bed in her cot, as I envisioned him coming behind me and stabbing me in the back.

The mother of Elsie Dot Stancombe, the seven-year-old girl murdered by Rudakubana, has branded him a ‘coward’ as she told the court his actions have left her family facing a ‘lifetime of grief’.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, Ms Stancombe said though the teenager had ‘stolen our daughter from us’ he wouldn’t be able to ‘take away our determination to honour her memory’.

Here is her statement in full:

That day we lost our beloved daughter, the three of us lost our best friend. But we are not going to stand here and list everything you have taken away from us, because we refuse to give you the satisfaction of hearing it. We will not let you know anything about her because you don’t deserve to know the extraordinary person she was. You know what you have done, and we hope the weight of that knowledge haunts you every single day.

The nature of your actions is beyond contempt. You deliberately chose that place, fully aware that there would be no parents present, fully aware that those girls were vulnerable and unable to protect themselves. This was not an act of impulse; it was premeditated.

You chose that place, that time, and those circumstances, knowing that when they arrived, all we would see was the aftermath of the devastation caused.

We were robbed of the opportunity to protect our girls. If we’d been there, this would never have happened, and the outcome would have been vastly different. What you did was not only cruel and pure evil; it was the act of a coward.

Though you have stolen our daughter from us, you will not take away our determination to honour her memory we will carry her love, positivity and her legacy forward, no matter how much pain you have caused.

To you My Lord, they say this: you took our daughter, her life, her future and everything she could have been. There is no greater loss and no greater pain. his actions have left us with a lifetime of grief.

We hope he uses his time in prison to reflect on the gravity of what he has done, though if we go from his actions and behaviour during this process we have little faith that he will ever feel the remorse he should. There is nothing that can undo the damage he has caused. Perhaps he will have the opportunity to contemplate the fear and terror he inflicted upon those girl and we sincerely want the consequences to reflect the irreparable damage he has inflicted.

The parents of Alice da Silva Aguiar, one of three girls murdered by Rudakubana, have told how their lives ‘went with her’ in an emotional statement read out by the prosecutor.

Alexandra and Sergio Aguiar said nine-year-old Alice was a ‘beautiful girl, perfect in every way’ who woke up ‘really excited’ to go to the dance class where she was stabbed.

In a statement, the parents said:

In a matter of minutes our worlds were shattered and turned upside down by the devastating attack on our Alice. A pin drop that changed our lives forever. We kept our hopes up every second during Alice’s 14-hour fight. But, once she had lost her fight, we lost our lives.

Our life went with her. He took us too. Six months of continuous pain and a lifetime sentence. That’s what we got then and the life we live now. Our dream girl has been taken away in such a horrible, undeserving way that it shattered our souls.

Living without Alice is not living at all. It’s a state of permanent numbness. We can’t see her picture and videos, they take us back to a time when we were so happy and now we’re in constant pain.

We have her clothes, her teddies and other belongings. We’ll keep them safe and often hug them when we miss Alice. We also have the cat to hug. Alice’s cat. Niko misses her so much. We all do and will miss our perfect baby girl forever.

A 14-year-old girl who was attacked while attending the dance class with her sister has told how Axel Rudakubana ‘didn’t look human’.

In her statement addressing Rudakubana, she said:

It’s sickening what you did, going in there into a room full of defenceless children. Give me a reason for what you did. Arming yourself with a weapon and stabbing children. I hope you spend the rest of your life knowing that we think you’re a coward.

Recalling the horror as she spoke from a side room by videolink. she said:

I saw you in your green hoodie and facemask. The thing I remember about you is your eyes. You didn’t look human, you look possessed.

She revealed she and her sister have struggled to cope in the aftermath.

The girl, who spent a week in hospital, revealed she was initially frantic her younger sister was safe but then feared she herself was going to die.

She said that while ‘some of us are physically getting better but we will all have to live with the mental pain from that day forever.’

The father of a nine-year-old girl who survived the Southport attacks has told how his daughter said she was glad she was there as she may have stopped ‘someone else getting hurt’.’

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, read out a victim impact statement on behalf of her family containing heartbreaking details of how the attack has affected her

Reading her words after he asked his daughter to explain the impact the events have had on her, she said:

It has been very hard to deal with what happened to me at Hart Space. I struggle with my emotions and I have scars that I know will be with me forever, but I want to look forward.

When people in school asked me ‘Do you wish you weren’t there that day?’ I said that, in some ways, I wish I wasn’t, but also, if I wasn’t there, someone else would have been stabbed and they could have died, so I’m glad I might have stopped someone else getting hurt.

Her father continued:

Our daughter loves and is loved. Our daughter sees the best in everyone. Our daughter is everything that Axel Rudakabana is not. She is our hero.

Ms Lucas concluded her statement by saying The trauma of being a victim and a witness has been ‘horrendous’.

There are times when I will spiral into trauma and the effect this has had on those close to me is unforgivable. The impact this has had on me can be summed up by one word: trauma.

The dance teacher says she believes her dance class was targeted by Rudakubana because ‘we were women and girls, vulnerable and easy prey’.

Before she finally added:

For Alice, Elsie, Bebe… and the surviving girls, I’m surviving for you.

The prosecution has now rested and the court is hearing victim impact statements from the families and survivors of the Southport attacks.

Dance teacher Leanne Lucas, 36, who was stabbed five times by Rudakubana told the court; ‘I cannot give myself compassion or accept praise, as how can I live knowing I survived when children died.’

In her statement, Ms Lucas said she cannot go to work, walk down the street without holding her breath and enter a public place without considering how she can escape.

There was a long period of time after the incident where I felt I had no trust in society. I am trying to see the goodness in the world, however the badness has been evidentially proven to me to exist, in plain sight, on our doorsteps, in our community.

You never think this is going to happen to you, I never thought this was going to happen to me and now my mindset has been altered to it could happen to you and it will probably happen to you. I feel that I have lost the ability to accept people now as they are.

The court has heard details of the three separate occasions Axel Rudakubana was referred to Prevent, the government’s counter-extremism programme.

Ms Heer said: ‘In November 2019 a referral was made because the defendant had been researching school shootings during an Information Technology class.

‘In February 2021 a referral was made following reports that he had uploaded to Instagram two images of Colonel Gadaffi.

‘In April 2021 a referral was made because he had been found researching the London Bridge terror attack.’

The court heard Rudakubana was found in possession of a small kitchen knife in March 2022 when he was reported missing.

She added:

He said that he wanted to stab someone so that he would get into trouble and his Tik Tok account, which contained embarrassing videos that he was unable to delete, would be closed down by the police. He said he had also thought about poisoning people or had tried to make poison for the same reason.

Axel Rudakubana called Childline five years ago asking ‘What should I do if I want to kill somebody?’, Liverpool Crown Court has heard.

During the call on October 4, 2019, ‘he explained that he hated someone at school who bullied him. He felt angry and wanted to kill them,’ Ms Heer said.

She added: ‘He said he had taken a knife to school but would only use it if the person really annoyed him.

As a result, a referral was made to the police, who visited the defendant. He confirmed that he had taken a knife to school and added that he thought he would use it if he became angry.

The school was also informed. By this time, the defendant had been temporarily excluded. When he admitted taking a knife to school on about 10 previous occasions, his exclusion was made permanent.

Ms Heer revealed Rudakubana was referred to the Multi-Agency Safeguard Hub (MASH) and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), then enrolled at a pupil referral unit on October 17.

Axel Rudakubana downloaded the an Al-Qaeda training manual on three occasions, prosecutor Deanna Heer told the court.

The document entitled ‘Military studies in the Jihad against Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual’ was found during a home search of the teenager.

Ms Heer said:

This is an academic paper containing the text of the Al-Qaeda Training Manual, which contains advice and instruction on committing acts of terror.

She said particular passages of relevance were instructions on how to carry out assassinations and mass murder, advice on where the enemy should be targeted and the production of ricin from castor beans.

This manual had been downloaded on three occasions in 2021, meaning that it was already in the defendant’s possession by the time he purchased the castor beans and equipment required to produce ricin in early 2022. If that is right, then he clearly knew just how deadly a substance it was before he produced.

Axel Rudakubana has again been removed from the dock after interrupting his sentencing hearing.

Minutes after he returned to the dock after lunch, the teenager interrupted the prosecution again by shouting: ‘Guards, I need to be seen by the paramedic. I feel ill.’

Mr Justice Goose instructed for Rudakubana to be removed.

The judge said he had been seen by a paramedic and was ‘fit’.

Ricin found in Rudakubana’s home could have killed up to 12,500 people, Liverpool Crown Court has been told.

Ms Heer gave evidence from a Porton Down expert, who found castor beans discovered during a home search ‘had been used to make a crude preparation of ricin in sufficient quantities to be lethal’

But he could not be sure that the further final purification process had taken place to produce ricin in liquid or powder form.

In the expert’s opinion, Ms Heer said, ‘the 150 castor beans obtained by the defendant could have produced between 1.07 and 5.33g of ricin, which is the equivalent of between 0 – 5 lethal doses by ingestion or 1,528 – 7,614 lethal doses by injection or 2,547 – 12,500 lethal doses by inhalation.’

She added there was no evidence the ricin was to be used in the Southport attack or at any other time.

Axel Rudakubana said he was ‘so glad’ to have killed children after he was taken into police custody following the Southport attacks, the court heard.

He was assessed by psychiatrists in the cells who found him fit to be detained and interviewed.

Prosecutor Deanna Heer said the then 17-year-old remained silent throughout his police interview but made a number of ‘unsolicited comments’ which were recorded on CCTV or noted down at the time.

His comments included:

I’m glad those kids are dead, it makes me happy.

I don’t care, I’m feeling neutral.

It’s a good thing those children are dead.

I’m so glad the children are dead, so glad.

Axel Rudakubana returned to the dock of Liverpool Crown Court as his sentencing hearing resumed following a lunchtime break.

He looked around the court briefly before dropping his head to his lap.

Before he entered, Mr Justice Goose said:

I understand the defendant has actually been seen again and found to be fit, physically, to come into court for the moment, he continues to indicate that were he to do so he would disrupt proceedings.

Stan Reiz KC, defending, said the defendant was willing to come into court and understood it was important not to disrupt proceedings.

Mr Justice Goose said:

If they do I’ll remove him but I will want him to come into court at the point of sentence.

A new court sketch captures the moment Axel Rudakubana shouted from the dock moments before he was ordered to leave his own sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court.

The 18-year-old demanded to see a paramedic as he repeatedly stated he was ill with chest pains just minutes after the hearing started following a delay of nearly an hour.

Rudakubana was branded a coward by victims’ families as he left the dock.

The MP for Southport has said he would like to see a law change which could allow for whole-life sentences in cases like that of Axel Rudakubana.

Rudakubana, who will be sentenced today for the murders of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Merseyside town, is not expected to receive a whole-life order as he was under 18 when he carried out the attack last summer.

Patrick Hurley, the Labour MP for Southport, told BBC Radio 4’s World at One:

There appears to be no reason, no rationale, that I can accept that he would not be treated as an adult for the purposes of sentencing here, and if that’s not going to be the case, then I would like to see the law changed to make it the case.

Mr Hurley (pictured) had earlier told the BBC the news coming out of the court was ‘absolutely appalling’ and said Rudakubana had shown ‘utter disrespect to the families’ of victims because of his behaviour in court.

A Sky News reporter broke down in tears live on air while reading distressing details from the sentencing hearing of Southport murdered Axel Rudakubana.

Sarah Jane Mee was relaying details provided by her colleagues from inside Liverpool Crown Court when she paused and said she wanted to ‘take a breath’.

Mee had been interviewing Liverpool Muslim Council chief executive Tawhid Islam who was talking about the importance of communities coming together.

She then began to talk about the evidence given in court about the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed class in The Hart Space in Southport, Merseyside, last July.

Mee told viewers: ‘I’ve just got to warn you what I’m about to relay to you is really distressing, as you would expect from this case. This is the prosecutor Deanna Heer KC who’s continuing to describe the attack back in July.’

• Watch the video below and read the full story by Mark Duell here

Before the break, the court heard how dance teacher Leanne Lucas (pictured) survived after she underwent a blood transfusion at Aintree University Hospital.

Ms Lucas was stabbed five times in the attack and arrived at hospital in a life threatening condition with severe internal injuries.

Earlier in the sentencing hearing, the court heard how Ms Lucas ordered the children to run away when Rudakubana launched his attack inside the dance studio, while CCTV showed her trying to usher them to safety after they fled.

The Southport child killer’s sentencing was delayed for nearly an hour before it got under way in Liverpool Crown Court where chaos soon broke out after the defendant was ordered to leave the dock.

Axel Rudakubana, who was taken to hospital before arriving at court, disrupted proceedings by repeatedly shouting ‘I’m ill’ and demanding to see a paramedics just minutes after the case opened.

As he was ordered to leave the courtroom, one person was heard to call him a coward.

The court has then harrowing details about how Rudakubana attacked dozens of children at a dance studio as well as the teacher Leanne Lucas and a businessman who tried to intervene.

Some of those present in court sobbed as horrific and at times too upsetting details about the children’s injuries were revealed which were said to be unsurvivable in the case of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancome and Alice da Silva Aguiar.

The case has now been adjourned for lunch and will resume at 2pm.

The three victims suffered horrendous and unsurvivable injuries, the court has been told.

The other eight children were seriously injured and underwent surgery. Injuries were inflicted ‘with severe force’, Ms Heer said.

Family members left court as the barrister described in graphic and distressing detail the injuries suffered by each child.

More CCTV has been shown in court of police arriving at the dance studio where a member of the public told officers: ‘You need a f****** gun mate, he’s got a knife’.

Bodycam footage shows the first officers on the scene enter the building and order Rudakubana to drop the knife.

They tackle him to the floor and arrest him.

A further clip showed police finding one child and dance teacher Heidi Liddle crying in the toilet.

The police officer tells Ms Liddle: ‘Listen, listen, listen, you’re safe.’

A picture of the knife used by Rudakubana was shown to the court.

The court has been shown footage of Axel Rudakubana arriving at the dance studio in a taxi just moments before he carried out his murderous rampage.

The teen was heard asking the driver where 34a Hart Street was before he left the vehicle without paying when the driver pointed him in the direction of the building. The driver is heard threatening to call the police.

Rudakubana is then seen trying the door of the Hart Space, knocking on it before entering a stairwell to the side.

Minutes later screams can be heard and CCTV shows children running outside.

Families were in tears as the video was played. Deanna Heer KC paused to allow families a chance to leave court, but all remained seated.

The court has now heard how the first police officer on the scene arrived to find a ‘large crowd of people in a state of complete panic’.

Sergeant Gillespie entered Hart Space, where the dance studio was located, accompanied by his colleague Sergeant Holden who had his Taser drawn.

Ms Heer said:

At the top of the stairs they found the defendant standing over the body of Bebe King who had visible and severe stab injuries. He was holding a large, bloodied, kitchen knife, which he dropped when told to do so.

Sergeant Gillespie later found the body of Elsie Dot Stancombe in the studio.

Businessman Jonathan Hayes (pictured) was stabbed in the leg as he tried to help children who had been attacked in the dance studio.

Mr Hayes was working in an office across the landing from the studio when he heard screaming and saw some children running across the car park.

As he walked onto the landing he saw the body of a child, lying motionless on the floor, now believed to be Bebe King.

Rudakubana was crouching over the child and began to confront Mr Hayes who then retreated into his office.

Ms Heer said:

The defendant swiped at him with a knife, which he tried to grab. During the confrontation, the defendant stabbed him in the leg and he fell to the ground, shouting for help. His colleague chased the defendant out of the office and shut the door.

The court has heard window cleaner Joel Verite (pictured) gave CPR to Alice da Silva Aguiar after she collapsed in the street moments after she was stabbed by Rudakubana.

Mr Verite and fellow cleaner Marcin Tyjon were driving along Hart Street when they saw a group of children running across the road and a woman, Leanne Lucas, covered in blood.

Prosecutor Ms Heer said: “She was screaming that someone was stabbing the kids. He could see that she was injured and that there was a child lying on the ground further along the road.”

Ms Heer said Mr Verite picked up Alice and took her into the street where CPR was given on the instructions of a 999 operator.

Some family members have broken down in tears as the events of July 29 were described to the court.

Relatives had their heads in their hands and wiped their eyes with tissues. Sobs could be heard from the public gallery.

Continuing her opening remarks, prosecutor Deanna Heer has told the court about the moment Rudakubana entered the dance class at around 11:45am in the morning:

Without saying a word, he grabbed the child nearest to him from behind and put his arm around her. This was (one of the children) who was at a table making a bracelet. At first, Leanne Lucas thought he was there to collect her, but he then moved on to a second child and then a third, Alice Da Silva Aguiar.

He moved quickly through the room without saying anything. It was only when he reached her and she felt a knife go into her back, that Leanne Lucas realised he was armed and stabbing the children. She cannot now recall whether she shouted for everyone to run or not, but they all ran towards the door and out into the corridor.

One member of the public mouthed ‘coward’ as Rudakubana was taken back to the cells just 10 minutes into the hearing.

Opening the case, Deanna Heer KC said:

On the 29th of July last summer, the defendant carried out what the prosecution say was a pre-meditated, pre-planned knife attack on multiple victims, principally young girls, intending to kill them.

Three children were killed, two of them suffered particularly horrific injuries which the prosecution say are difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature.

He also tried to kill 10 others. He inflicted a number of stab wounds upon them to their backs, suggesting they were inflicted as they tried to escape.

She then continued by telling the court a umber of weapons were found including ricin during a search of his home.

Documents were also found which stated he had a long-standing obsession with violence including an Al Qaeda manual.

Ms Heer added:

When arrested at police station, Axel Rudakubana was heard to say: ‘It’s a good thing those children are dead. I’m so glad, I’m so happy.

Mr Justice Goose has ordered Southport killer Axel Rudakubana to leave the dock as he shouted repeatedly during his sentencing hearing at Liverpool Crown Court.

Rudakubana’s defence lawyer Stanley Reiz KC has told the court his client as not eaten ‘for a number of days’ and drunk ‘very little’ over the same period.

There was concern about his ability to be in a high pressure situation.

Mr Justice Goose said he had been reassured Rudakubana was fit to attend and the court would continue until 1pm when there would be a break.

Rudakubana shouted: ‘I can’t remain quiet. I haven’t eaten for 10 days. I feel ill. I’m not going to remain quiet.’

The teen was then ordered to leave the dock.

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana turned to a dock officer as the opening note was read at his sentencing and said: ‘I’m not fine, I feel ill.’

He shouted repeatedly: ‘I need to speak to a paramedic, I feel ill.’

He added: ‘You’re not giving me any support judge, I feel ill.’

In her opening remarks, prosecutor Deanna Heer KC told Liverpool Crown Court:

Three children were killed, two of whom suffered particularly horrific injuries which are difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature; and the defendant attempted to kill 10 others, inflicting a number of stab wounds upon them, including to their backs as they tried to escape.

In the opening moments Liverpool Crown Court heard Axel Rudakubana said ‘I’m glad they’re dead’ as he was held in a custody suite after killing three girls in a knife attack at a Southport dance class.

Prosecutors have said the injuries suffered by the Southport murder victims are ‘difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature’.

Axel Rudakubana has refused to confirm his name when asked to do so by the court.

This follows on from previous hearings in which he has refused to speak.

The teenager is dressed in a grey prison tracksuit with blue surgical facemask, which he has also worn at court.

He entered the dock surrounded by five security guards and had his head bowed as the hearing started.

Axel Rudakubana has now entered the court room after his sentencing was delayed for more than 45 minutes.

Mr Justice Goose is now sat in the court as the sentencing gets under way.

No reason has been given for the delay.

It was reported earlier that Rudakubana was taken to hospital earlier this morning.

Sources have confirmed Axel Rudakubana was rushed from prison to an undisclosed hospital before being brought to court.

The Times reported Rudakubana, 18, ‘required medical attention’ and was taken to hospital in the early hours, sources told the newspaper.

However, his condition was not deemed serious enough to delay his sentencing hearing.

Outside court, there were a small number of protesters gathered and a large number of police.

The Liverpool Echo has reported around 40 family members of the Southport victims have taken their seats in the public gallery.

On Monday, many of the victims’ relatives did not see Rudakubana plead guilty to all 16 charges as they believed his trial would open fully on Tuesday.

Rudakubana has yet to appear in the court.

We can now bring you footage of the moment Southport killer Axel Rudakubana arrived at Liverpool Crown Court in a police convoy.

The Southport killer’s sentencing hearing is about to get under way following a slight delay to proceedings.

We’re about to get under way in the sentencing hearing at Liverpool Crown Court.

We can expect to hear victim impact statements, the prosecution outline their case and mitigation arguments from the defence.

Mr Justice Goose will then deliver his remarks in which he will explain how long Rudakubana will spend in prison before passing his sentence.

We will bring you live updates throughout the day.

A whole life order is the most severe punishment a judge can give out in England and Wales.

It means the offender will never be released from prison, except in exceptional compassionate circumstances.

The tariff is saved for the most heinous murderers, including serial killer Levi Bellfield and former Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard.

It differs from a life sentence, which means the offender must serve a minimum term in prison before they are eligible for parole.

Southport attacker Axel 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.

A whole life sentence is seen as too severe and not appropriate for a young offender.

A parent of one of the Southport stabbing victims says child killer Axel Rudakubana ‘should rot in jail’ after he in sentenced today.

He urged the judge to show now mercy when he sentences Rudakubana, 18, after he pleaded guilty to killing three primary schoolgirls and attempting to murder 10 other people at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last summer.

The 18-year-old, who wore a facemask and refused to stand in the dock, changed his pleas from not guilty to guilty in a U-turn as his four-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court was about to start.

However, he cannot be given a whole life tariff as he was 13 days from his 18th birthday when he carried out the worst targeted attack on children in Britain since the Dunblane massacre in 1996.

The parent of one of the girls who needed surgery after the attack insisted that the rules need to be changed. ‘Axel should rot in jail,’ said the parent, who cannot be identified for legal reasons to protect his child.

Read more here:

Axel Rudakubana has arrived at Liverpool Crown Court – his prison van accompanied by a heavy police presence.

He arrived at 10.45am in a convoy headed by a police car with two motorcycle outriders and two more police vehicles at the rear.

Axel Rudakubana bought the knife he used to kill three little girls and injure 10 others from Amazon, despite being 17 years old and it being illegal to sell to under-18s.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has since vowed to bring in stricter checks when buying knives, especially online.

The Prime Minister said it was unacceptable murder weapons can be obtained with ‘two clicks’ online.

Under new Government plans, anyone purchasing a knife from the web will have to provide a digital scan of an official identity document such as a passport or driving licence to prove they are over 18 – and also film a selfie video to show they are the ID holder.

The two-step verification scheme goes further than existing laws which require internet retailers to check the age of customers both when they order knives and when they are delivered.

• July 29, 2024: Shortly before midday, a knifeman enters a dance class at The Hart Space in Hart Street in Southport. Bebe, Elsie and Alice are fatally wounded. Eight other children are injured, as are instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes. Police say they have detained a male and seized a knife. Within hours, claims spread online that the suspect is an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK by boat in 2023. Some claims include an alleged identity.
• July 30, 2024: In the evening, a peaceful vigil is held outside Southport’s Atkinson arts venue, where flowers are laid in memory of those who died. Shortly after the vigil, a separate protest begins outside the town’s mosque in St Luke’s Road. People throw items towards the mosque, property is damaged and police vehicles are set on fire.
• July 31, 2024: Demonstrators gather in Whitehall, London, for an ‘Enough Is Enough’ protest. Flares and cans are thrown at police and more than 100 people are arrested. Disorder also breaks out in Hartlepool, County Durham, and Aldershot, Hampshire.
• August 1, 2024: Police announce that Rudakubana has been charged with the murders of Bebe, Elsie Dot and Alice, 10 counts of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article. He is not named by police because of his age. He appears in court in Liverpool and Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Andrew Menary KC rules he can be named, following a request led by the Daily Mail, as he is due to turn 18 in a week. He initially smiled on entering the courtroom – then kept his face covered by his sweatshirt for the remainder of the proceedings before the case was adjourned. Later that evening, demonstrators gather outside a hotel in Newton Heath, Manchester.
• August 2, 2024: Three police officers are taken to hospital after disorder in Sunderland.
• August 3, 2024: There are scenes of violence during planned protests across the UK, including in Liverpool, Hull, Nottingham and Belfast.
• August 4, 2024: Disorder continues, including outside a Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, where masked demonstrators launch lengths of wood and sprayed fire extinguishers at police officers.
• August 5, 2024: The Government holds an emergency Cobra meeting in the wake of the disorder and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer vows to ‘ramp up criminal justice’. That evening, a peaceful vigil is held in Southport, a week on from the killings. Police deal with disorder in Plymouth, Devon and Darlington, County Durham.
• August 7, 2024: Prison sentences for those involved in the unrest begin to be handed out. Derek Drummond, 58, is the first person to be jailed for violent disorder at Liverpool Crown Court, where he is sentenced to three years. More than 100 protests are planned for across the country, with counter-demonstrations taking place, but the majority of police forces report very little trouble.
• October 29, 2024: Merseyside Police announces Rudakubana will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via videolink the next day charged with production of a biological toxin, Ricin, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.
• October 30, 2024: Rudakubana appears at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via videolink from HMP Belmarsh to face the two new charges. He holds his sweater over the bottom half of his face and does not respond when asked to confirm his name.
• November 13, 2024: Rudakubana appears at Liverpool Crown Court via videolink. He covers his face with his grey sweatshirt and does not speak throughout the hearing. About 20 family members of victims sit in the public gallery. The case is adjourned until December 12, when a preparatory hearing will take place.
• January 20, 2025: Rudakubana appears at Liverpool Crown Court for the first day of his trial where he pleads guilty to all 16 charges, including the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.

Triple child killer Axel Rudakubana was referred three times to the government’s deradicalisation scheme Prevent

One of the referrals is thought to follow concerns about Rudakubana’s potential interest in the killing of children in a school massacre, but it was deemed that there was no counter terrorism risk.

His behaviour, including his apparent interest in violence, was assessed by Prevent as potentially concerning.

But he was deemed not to be motivated by a terrorist ideology or pose a terrorist danger and was therefore not considered suitable for the counter-radicalisation scheme.

Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the Southport attack this summer, was first referred to Prevent in 2019 when he was 13.

Two more referrals were made in 2021, all when was a school child living in Lancashire.

Each time he was assessed as not being a counter terrorism risk and therefore not suitable for further investigation by the counter-radicalisation programme Channel, which handles Prevent referrals where there is a significant risk of that person being drawn into terrorism.

Let’s take a look at the child victims who were murdered by Axel Rudakubana as they attended a Taylor Swift themed dance school in Southport during the summer holidays.

Bebe was the youngest victim of the Southport murders at six years old.

In a statement issued by Merseyside Police, her parents Lauren and Ben said their daughter ‘was full of joy, light, and love, and she will always remain in our hearts as the sweet, kind, and spirited girl we adore’.

The family added: ‘On Monday the 29th of July, our world was shattered by the loss of our precious daughter Bebe. Along with two other beautiful souls, Elsie and Alice, she was taken from us in an unimaginable act of violence that has left our hearts broken beyond repair.

• Elsie Dot Stancombe

Elsie’s parents Jenni and Dave described her a ‘devoted Swiftie’ who loved to dance in a moving tribute at the time of the seven-year-old’s death.

In a statement, they said: ‘Elsie was an amazing little girl. She had the ability to light up any room that she entered, she was truly unforgettable.’

In October, it was reported her family had set up Elsie’s Story, a charitable trust in the spirit of their daughter’s ‘positivity, love for others and energy of life’.

• Alice da Silva Aguiar

The nine-year-old died from her injuries in hospital the day after the attack.

She was described by her parents Sergio and Alexandra as their ‘perfect dream child’ who loved animals and ‘moved our world’ with her ‘confidence and empathy’.

During a memorial service in which tributes were read out in English and Portuguese her parents walked into the service clutching a toy and their daughter’s ballet shoes.

Rudakubana pleaded guilty to a total of 16 charges at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday.

Here they are in full:

• Three murder charges

The 18-year-old has admitted murdering Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar.

• 10 attempted murders

Rudakubana has also pleaded guilty to the attempted murders of eight other children, who cannot be named as they were given anonymity, as well as class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes who intervened.

• Possessing a knife

He bought the weapon from Amazon for £3.40 and used it during the attack.

• Producing ricin

One of two additional charges he received when the deadly poison was found during searches of the home he shared with his parents.

• Possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism

This charge was laid after a PDF file entitled Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants, The Al Qaeda Training Manual, was discovered.

In August 2006, Axel Rudakubana was born in Cardiff to parents who moved to the UK from Rwanda four years previously.

He lived with his parents and elder brother in the Welsh capital for 11 years before they moved to Lancashire.

Described as ‘introverted’ as a child and ‘clingy’ with his mother, Rudakubana was billed as a stage school ‘superstar’ when he appeared as Doctor Who in a BBC Children in Need advert aged only 11.

But the first warning sign emerged just two years later when he burst into his school while barred from the premises for bringing in a knife and attacked pupils with a hockey stick.

The raging future killer was only disarmed after being bravely overpowered by a teacher.

The teenager developed a dark interest in extreme violence which saw him spend hours researching genocide and examining graphic murder videos.

One official said: ‘He was absolutely obsessed with genocides.

‘He could name every genocide in history and how many people were killed – Rwanda, Genghis Khan, Hitler. It’s all he wanted to talk about.’

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana unexpectedly changed his pleas to guilty on Monday as he was about to go on trial for the murders of three children and the attempted murder of eight others plus two adults.

The families of the victims were not present to see the teenager admit his guilt as they believed the trial was due to open fully on Tuesday.

Following his admission it emerged Rudakubana was referred to Prevent, the UK’s counter extremism programme, before he carried out the attack.

It was also reported he was planning Britain’s first high school massacre a week before the knife rampage – but was talked out of going to the building by his father.

Hours after the guity pleas were entered, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced a public inquiry would take place to give the people of Southport answers about what happened leading up to the attack.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer then addressed the nation from Downing Street on Tuesday morning to warn Britain was facing a new terrorism threat from ‘loners and misfits’ as he vowed to bring in changes to protect children.

Police officers have been pictured arriving at Liverpool Crown Court ahead of Axel Rudakubana’s sentencing this morning.

Sadistic Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana is today due to receive a life sentence for the killings of three girls and attempts to murder 10 more people.

In what prosecutors described as a ‘meticulously-planned rampage’, the maniac wielded a knife as he savaged children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance class in a crime which shocked the nation.

Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, all died and eight more children aged between seven and 13 suffered knife wounds, as did dance teacher Leanne Lucas while trying to protect the children.

Businessman John Hayes, who rushed to the scene from his office nearby and attempted to overpower Rudakubana, was also stabbed. Others nearby who heard screams also rushed to the scene and police arrived, bringing the horrific incident to an end.

In 12 minutes of mayhem, Rudakubana, wearing a green hooded top and surgical facemask, knifed as many children as he could, even pulling one girl back as she tried to flee. Ms Lucas’s fellow dance teacher Heidi Liddle hid in a toilet with one child.

Read more here:

Good morning and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage as Axel Rudakubana is sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court over the Southport attacks.

Rudakubana, 18, has pleaded guilty to 16 charges including the murders of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine as they attended a dance class on July 29 last year.

The murders triggered a wave of violence across the UK with unrest in several towns and cities which resulted in the arrests of 1,280 people. Nearly 500 were jailed.

Rudakubana’s sentencing is due to start at 11am.

Stick with us for live updates from throughout the hearing with Richard Marsden reporting from Liverpool Crown Court and Jamie Bullen from London.