Southport attacks: Axel Rudakubana sentenced over murder of three girls | Southport attack

Axel Rudakubana was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents and lived in the village of Banks, near Southport, when he carried out the attack at the age of 17.

Detectives investigating the murders found he had developed a deep and dark interest in extreme violence, spending hours researching genocide and watching graphic videos of murder.

He had been excluded from mainstream education, having taken a knife to school, and was described by one former school friend as “a ticking timebomb”.

We are likely to get a little more detail on Rudakubana’s background and motives during the sentencing hearing today, though it may never be clear what drove the attack.

After the guilty pleas were entered, the Crown Prosecution Service said:

It is clear that this was a young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence. He has shown no sign of remorse.

Josh Halliday

The hearing is due to begin at 11am at Liverpool crown court, where the previous hearings in this case have taken place.

There is a large police presence around the court, where two police officers are stationed at the entrance. A huge queue snakes out of the building to pass through security due to extra checks this morning. Opposite the court building a small group of activists has unfolded a banner for Patriotic Alternative, a rightwing group.

Good morning. I’m Robyn Vinter, the Guardian’s north of England correspondent, in court for the sentencing of 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana, who has pleaded guilty to the murders of three children, Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe, in Southport on 29 July 2024.

Rudakubana unexpectedly pleaded guilty to all charges on Monday, the day his trial at Liverpool crown court was due to begin.

The jury had not yet been sworn in when the teenager changed his plea to guilty for all 16 counts on the indictment: three counts of murder, 10 of attempted murder, possession of a knife, producing the poison ricin and possession of a terrorist manual.

The trial had been expected to last at least two weeks and the court was due to hear from the victims and witnesses of the attack, including the teachers at the Taylor Swift-themed dance class where the murders occurred, police officers who responded to the unfolding tragedy and paramedics who tended to the injured and dying children.

Pathologists, computer experts and a chemist had also been scheduled to give expert evidence.

More background here, as reported by my colleague, the north of England editor, Josh Halliday on Monday: