The 52-year prison sentence handed to Axel Rudakubana, 18, for the Southport attacks leads many of the papers. Six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar were killed in the attack last July, while eight other children and two adults were injured. The Daily Mail says the sentence is believed to be the longest given to a killer of Rudakubana’s age and quotes judge Mr Justice Goose saying it is unlikely he will ever be released.
The Daily Express quotes the parents of the girls killed in the attack, which took place at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, calling Rudakubana “pure evil” and saying they have been left with “shattered souls”.
Elsie’s mother is quoted by the Daily Mirror telling Rudakubana that she hopes the attack “haunts you every single day”.
The Sun quotes the parents of one of the children who was injured in the attack but survived, named only as Child A, saying: “When we think of Southport we’ll think of the girls. Their bravery. Their strength. He will not win.”
The court heard that, had he been able to, Rudakubana would have killed all 26 children at the class and that it was only thanks to the bravery of other children and adults present that he was stopped, according to the i. The paper quotes one 14-year-old survivor saying: “I knew I was running for my life. I needed to try to get everyone to safety… a room full of defenceless children”.
The Daily Telegraph’s Allison Pearson attended the sentencing and describes the scene inside the court. She says a few of the relatives of the victims had to leave the room as prosecuting barrister Deanna Heer recited the list of wounds inflicted on the girls. She notes it was the first time Rudakubana had been in the same room as the families of his victims, though adds that he missed many of their victim impact statements because he was removed from the court after repeatedly protesting that he felt ill. “Even if he’d stayed, I don’t think he was capable of comprehending the ocean of anguish he’s unleashed,” she writes.
It has emerged that two years before the attack Rudakubana’s parents called the police four times in six months asking for help, according to the Guardian. The paper says that, on one occasion, Rudakubana was caught on a bus with a blade but instead of detaining him, officers took him home and told his mother to keep knives out of his reach.
The Times says the case has prompted calls for legal reforms because Rudakubana’s age at the time of the attack meant he avoided a whole-life sentence. The paper says Patrick Hurley, the Labour MP for Southport, has asked the attorney general to review the sentence, calling it “unduly lenient”. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is quoted saying there is a “strong case” for amending the law to allow whole life orders for under-18s, while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is quoted saying: “We owe it to these innocent young girls and all those affected to deliver the change that they deserve”.
US President Donald Trump has called on oil producers’ group Opec to bring down global prices in order to put pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine, the Financial Times reports. It quotes from an address Trump delivered by video to the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday in which he said: “Right now the price is high enough that that war will continue. You gotta bring down the oil price. That will end that war. You could end that war.” The paper says he also called on central banks around the world to follow the US in lowering their interest rates.
And the Daily Star says “hordes of heat-seeking rats” could invade homes in the coming days to try to escape the 100mph winds expected to be brought by Storm Eowyn.
Pictures of the three young girls murdered in the Southport attack last summer are on almost every front page.
The Daily Express says their killer, Axel Rudakubana, was described as “pure evil” by their parents as he was jailed for at least 52 years on Thursday. The Daily Mail says the sentence is thought to be the longest punishment handed to a killer below the age of 18.
In the words of the Daily Telegraph’s Allison Pearson, a “great obliterating numbness settled over the court” as prosecutors described the injuries inflicted on the children. A journalist from the Daily Mirror says, at times, she had to stop writing notes and take a deep breath with her head in her hands.
In an editorial, the Daily Mail considers why police and the counter-extremism Prevent programme failed to act before the killings, despite signs that the murderer, Axel Rudakubana, was obsessed with violence.
The paper says the fact he posed an intensifying danger to the public seems to have been virtually ignored, because “box-ticking officials” weren’t sure whether he had a political or ideological motivation. It urges the government to ensure “potentially dangerous misfits” are properly dealt with when the alarm is raised, whether they have a “clear ideology” or not.
“Evil incarnate” is the headline above the Sun’s editorial, which describes Rudakubana as “simply a monster, radicalised by terrorist material online, obsessed with violence, genocide and war, hell-bent on mass murder for its own sake, and never safe for release”.
A report in the i says the government has signalled that it’s open to joining the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention – an agreement that reduces trade barriers between the EU, European countries outside the bloc, and north African nations, including Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. The prime minister’s spokesman said the scheme is not a customs union and therefore would not breach the government’s red lines.
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Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, were all killed in the Southport attack
According to the Financial Times, the Competition and Markets Authority is in turmoil and is cutting nearly 10% of its workforce because of a “budgeting error”. The paper notes that the move comes after the government ousted the group’s chair, Marcus Bokkerink, following complaints from business.
The Times has found that ships linked to the Russian military or government have loitered in British waters 42 times since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The paper says on at least nine occasions such vessels were identified in the vicinity of sub-sea data cables and energy infrastructure. In an editorial, the Times says the UK must protect its vital interests and that means having a navy, army, and air force capable of doing so.
And the Daily Telegraph reports that a selection of memorabilia that belonged to Sven-Goran Eriksson has gone up for auction. It follows reports that the former England football manager was millions of pounds in debt when he died in August. The lots include the Armani suit Eriksson wore for England’s last-16 match at the 2006 World Cup. In the jacket pocket is the Lufthansa boarding pass of his assistant, Steve McClaren, and pieces of paper outlining England’s line-up and how Ecuador might attack them.
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