‘Evil’ Southport killer jailed for minimum 52 years
Jonny Humphries
BBC News
Reporting fromLiverpool Crown Court
Elizabeth Cook/PA
Axel Rudakubana would have been sentenced to a whole life prison term had he been 18 at the time of the mass killing, the judge said
Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been sentenced to a minimum of 52 years for the “sadistic” murders of three young girls in an attack described as “shocking” and “pure evil”.
Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died while eight other children and two adults – dance class leader Leanne Lucas and businessman Jonathan Hayes – were seriously wounded.
The 18-year-old refused to come into the courtroom as he was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court, having been removed from the dock earlier due to disruptive behaviour – which included demands to see a paramedic and shouts of “I feel ill”.
Sentencing him, judge Mr Justice Goose said: “Many, who have heard the evidence might describe what he did as evil; who could dispute it?”
He added: “On any view, it was at least the most extreme, shocking and exceptionally serious crime.”
Victim impact statements were read out by prosecutor Deanna Heer KC, in which the grieving families of two of the murder victims branded their daughters’ killer as “pure evil” whose actions have left them in “continuous pain”.
Warning: This story will contain distressing details
Southport murderer caught on taxi dashcam before attack
Earlier, the details of his crimes were laid out in court for the first time in graphic detail – including CCTV and dashboard camera footage from outside the Hart Space studios on Hart Street.
There were gasps from the public gallery as extremely distressing footage was played on the courtroom TV monitors.
The court heard how, just after 11:45 BST on 29 July, Rudakubana moved through the sold-out dance workshop, organised by Ms Lucas, “systematically” stabbing young girls as they sat making friendship bracelets and singing along to Swift’s music.
Ms Heer also described how Rudakubana gloated about the attacks as he was escorted through Copy Lane police station after his arrest – saying he was “glad the children were dead”.
Merseyside Police
Axel Rudakubana appeared to be a “normal child” until he turned 13, his defence counsel told the court
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Mr Justice Goose said: “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.”
Rudakubana was sentenced for three counts of murder, 10 of attempted murder, one of producing the biological toxin ricin and one of possession of an Al Qaeda training manual, an offence under the Terrorism Act.
Mr Justice Goose said: “He will serve almost the whole of his life in custody. I consider it likely he will never be released and he will be in custody for all of his life.”
The judge said if Rudakubana had committed the offence nine days later, after his 18th birthday, he would have imposed a whole life order with no chance of parole.
The court had heard how the teenager had booked a taxi to take him to Hart Street after leaving his home in Old School Close, Banks, west Lancashire, at 11:10 BST.
Ms Heer played footage of Rudakubana asking the driver to point him to the address of the dance class – before getting out without paying.
The driver’s dashboard camera also captured Rudakubana walk up the stairs of the Hart Space building to the first-floor studio which had 26 children, Ms Lucas, and her colleague and friend Heidi Liddle inside.
Merseyside Police
Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and Bebe King, six, had been having fun listening to their “idol” Taylor Swift when Rudakubana struck
Seconds later, the sounds of screaming children filled the courtroom and the footage showed girls streaming out of the Hart Space dance studio.
The families of the victims cried in the public gallery as Ms Heer played footage of three of the girls staggering into the street and collapsing – including two of the survivors and Alice.
One of those survivors, a seven-year-old girl referred to as Child A, had been pulled back inside the building by Rudakubana as she tried to escape and was stabbed repeatedly, before managing to stagger into the street where she fell to the ground.
Inside the studio, Bebe had been subjected to 122 knife wounds, while Elsie Dot had 85.
Ms Liddle and one other child were hiding in a locked toilet on a landing outside – Ms Liddle later describing how she realised that some of the children had not escaped when she heard them begging Rudakubana to stop.
Ms Heer said: “There is no evidence that [Rudakubana] ascribed to any particular political or religious ideology; he wasn’t fighting for a cause.
“His only purpose was to kill and he targeted the youngest, most vulnerable in order to spread the greatest level of fear and outrage, which he succeeded in doing.”
The police arrived at Hart Street shortly before 11:59 BST – three officers and a member of the public, window-cleaner Joel Verite, charged up those stairs to find Rudakubana stood over the body of Bebe King holding a knife.
Police body-camera footage showed him tackled to the floor as Mr Verite shouted in utter shock and horror at the injuries he saw had been inflicted on Bebe.
A short time later Ms Liddle and the child hiding with her were seen sobbing in terror and relief as the police told them it was safe to emerge.
Sentencing Rudakubana, Justice Goose confirmed the offences did not reach the legal definition of terrorism because he did not kill to further a political, religious or ideological cause.
However, he told the packed courtroom that whether the “motivation was terrorism or not misses the point”.
“What he did on the 29th July last year has caused such shock and revulsion to the whole nation, that it must be viewed as being at the extreme level of crime”, the judge said.
“His culpability, and the harm he caused and intended, were at the highest.”
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