A teenager has admitted to murdering three children in a horrifying mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport which sparked widespread riots.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, also pleaded guilty to 10 charges of attempted murder following the frenzied knife attack which shocked the nation in summer last year.
He had been due to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, having denied the charges last year, but dramatically changed his plea on the first day of the trial.
Six-year-old Bebe King and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe were killed in the attack on 29 July 2024, while nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar died from her injuries in hospital afterwards.
A further five children and two adults were rushed to a hospital in a critical condition with knife injuries after he ambushed the children’s holiday class at the Hart Space in Southport, where girls were due to have a fun morning of making bracelets, dancing to Taylor Swift and yoga.
The tragic attack sparked a string of far-right riots across the country after misinformation spread about the killer’s identity.
Rudakubana, who was born to Rwandan parents in Cardiff before his family moved to Banks, Lancashire, was 17 at the time of the incident.
The recorder of Liverpool Andrew Menary KC overturned reporting restrictions preventing him from being named due to his age at a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court in August, noting that maintaining reporting restrictions risked misinformation continuing to be spread “in a vacuum”.
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