Southport killer Axel Rudakubana pleads guilty to murdering three young girls at Taylor Swift dance party

A teenager from Wales accused of murdering three young girls in the Southport stabbing changed his pleas to guilty at the last minute before his trial was due today. The 18-year-old appeared before Liverpool Crown Court charged with murdering Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine.

Axel Rudakubana, originally from Cardiff, admitted killing the three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party at the Hart Space in the Merseyside town on July 29 last year. The defendant also admitted attempting to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and two adults Leanne Lucas and John Hayes.

The accused, of Banks, Lancashire, also faced charges of a bladed article in a public place, namely a kitchen knife with a curved blade. He was charged with additional offences of production of a biological toxin, namely ricin, and possession of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, namely a PDF file entitled "Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual", in October.

Merseyside Police's Chief Constable Serena Kennedy told a press conference that these charges related to evidence obtained following searches of his home address on Old School Close. But the force's most senior officer said the stabbings had not been declared as a terrorist incident as a "motivation would need to be established".

Rudakubana, who was aged 17 at the time of the stabbings but turned 18 in August 2024, has not spoken to confirm his identity during any of his court appearances to date. During his plea and trial preparation hearing last month, he sat swaying from side to side and did not answer when arraigned on all 16