Southport stabbings: Teen charged with triple murder named as Axel Rudakubana | UK | News
Teenager Appears In Court Charged With Southport Stabbings
A 17-year-old boy who is charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder after a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport can be named as Axel Rudakubana, the Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC has ruled.
The teenager could previously not be named because of his age.
However, he would have lost anonymity when he turns 18 next Wednesday.
Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were fatally stabbed on Monday when a knifeman entered the dance class on Hart Street in Southport, Merseyside.
Eight other children suffered knife wounds – with five of them left in a critical condition – while two adults were also critically hurt.
Police officers and a police van block the vehicle entrance at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court today
Rudakubana was charged with the attempted murder of two adults, yoga class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes, as well as the attempted murder of the eight children who cannot be named for legal reasons.
He is also charged with possession of a bladed article, a curved kitchen knife, the court heard.
Earlier today, Rudakubana, from Banks in Lancashire, appeared in the dock at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court for a preliminary hearing.
The decision to name him follows days of speculation, with widespread protests including one in Southport on Tuesday believed to have been fuelled by incorrect claims that the suspect was a migrant who had arrived in the UK by dinghy.
The suspect in the Southport murders arrives at Liverpool magistrates court after being charged late
Two of the children were discharged today, Alder Hey Children’s hospital said. Five others remain in stable condition at the hospital.
Police have not disclosed a motive for the crime, but other new details emerged during the suspect’s first appearance at Liverpool Magistrates Court.
The alleged murder weapon was a kitchen knife with a curved blade, according to an additional charge he faces. It was also revealed that the suspect is just a week shy of becoming an adult when he turns 18.
The suspect, wearing a gray tracksuit, smiled briefly at reporters before sitting down in the courtroom. He then pulled his sweatshirt above his nose and held his head low during the brief hearing. He did not speak.
Neither the teen’s parents nor family members of victims were in court.
Axel Rudakubana appeared at a preliminary hearing at Liverpool Magistrates Court
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who is meeting senior police officers today, said he would tell them “while the right to peaceful protest must be protected at all costs, he will be clear that criminals who exploit that right in order to sow hatred and carry out violent acts will face the full force of the law.”
Hundreds of protesters chanting “we want our country back” hurled beer cans and bottles near the prime minister’s Downing Street residence in London on Wednesday evening, and launched flares at a nearby statue of wartime leader Winston Churchill. More than 100 people were arrested for offenses including violent disorder and assault on an emergency worker, London’s Metropolitan Police force said.
Police officers were pelted with bottles and eggs in the town of Hartlepool in northeast England, where a police car was set ablaze, as far-right groups seek to stir anger over an attack they have sought to link to immigrants. A smaller disturbance was reported in Manchester.
On Tuesday night a crowd of several hundred people hurled bricks and bottles at riot police in Southport, set garbage bins and vehicles on fire and looted a store, hours after a peaceful vigil for the stabbing victims.
Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said: “I am absolutely appalled and disgusted at the level of violence that was shown towards my officers. Some of the first responders who attended that awful scene on Monday … then were faced with that level of violence.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer pays his respects in Southport on Tuesday
Southport MP Patrick Hurley said the violence by “beered-up thugs” was the result of “propaganda and lies” spread on social media.
He added: “This misinformation doesn’t just exist on people’s internet browsers and on people’s phones. It has real world impact.”
Britain’s worst attack on children was in 1996, when 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton shot and killed 16 youngsters and their teacher in a school gymnasium in Dunblane, Scotland. The United Kingdom subsequently banned the private ownership of almost all handguns.
While knives are used in about 40 percent of homicides each year, mass stabbings are unusual. But a recent rise in knife crime has stoked anxieties and led to calls for the government to do more to clamp down on bladed weapons, by far the most commonly used instruments in UK homicides.