Southport killer Axel Rudakubana charged with attacking prison staff

Rudakubana, serving life sentence for murders of three girls at dance event ⁠in 2024, charged with multiple assaults

The Southport killer Axel Rudakubana, serving life in prison for ⁠the murders of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event ⁠in 2024, ⁠has ​been charged with assaults on prison staff, police have said.

On ⁠29 July 2024, Rudakubana, then 17, launched a frenzied knife attack in Southport, north-west England, killing Bebe King, six, Elsie ​Dot Stancombe, seven, ‌and Alice da Silva ‌Aguiar, nine.

Rudakubana injured 10 others in the ‌attack, which was followed by days of rioting across the country. He was jailed for a minimum of 52 years after he admitted to the killings shortly before trial last year.

Rudakubana, now 19, ‌has been charged with attempted grievous bodily harm relating to an incident in ​May 2025, and assault on an emergency worker two days earlier, the Metropolitan police said on Friday.

He has also been charged with possession of an offensive weapon ⁠in prison, and assault on an emergency worker in October 2025, ​and will ​appear at Westminster ​magistrates court on 11 September.

Rudakubana was ​recently moved ‌from prison ​to ​the Broadmoor top-security psychiatric hospital after it was concluded he could not be managed safely in a prison environment. The families of the three girls described the move as an attempt “to manipulate the system”.