Axel Rudakubana: The Southport Killer
In July 2024, a horrific and heinous crime took place in Southport, Merseyside, in the United Kingdom. A teenager entered a dance studio and attacked the attendants, most of whom were children. Three of the children were killed, while several others were injured.
The teen behind this vicious and disturbing crime was Axel Rudakubana, but who is he, and what compelled him to do something so evil? Join us here at Crime+Investigation as we dive deeper into the harrowing case of the Southport Killer.
Who is Axel Rudakubana?
Axel Muganwa Rudakubana was born on 7th August 2006, in Cardiff. He was born to Rwandan parents Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetita Muzayire, who had moved to Wales in 2002. Rudakubana also has an older brother.
The family eventually moved to Southport in Merseyside and resided there for four years. They then moved again to a cul-de-sac in a village called Banks, which is just north of Southport.
Rudakubana attended St Patrick’s Primary School in Marshside, Merseyside, before going to Range High School in Formby. He was eventually expelled from the school for various behavioural reasons.
When he was young, Rudakubana was interested in performing and musical theatre. His passion was so great that he was enrolled in the Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts and had a talent agent. Aged 11, he appeared in a BBC advert for Children in Need dressed as Doctor Who.
Ultimately, however, a lack of confidence held him back from a career in the performing arts.
Raised concerns
After his expulsion, there was a series of troubling incidents, including Rudakubana attacking a student with a hockey stick. Because of this, he went to a special education needs school called The Acorns School. He was diagnosed in 2021 with autism. It was at The Acorns that he began researching terrorist attacks and terrorist figureheads via the school computers.
When this was discovered, a referral to an anti-extremism agency named Prevent was submitted. Three referrals were made from December 2019 to April 2021, but they were not accepted.
The police were also called to the Rudakubana home various times, including an incident where he kicked his father in the face. By September 2022, he did not attend classes in person. He was enrolled at the Presfield High School and Specialist College in the sixth form, but staff would visit him at home. Police would sometimes attend to Rudakubana with the school staff.
The attack
On 29th July 2024, Rudakanba donned a green hoodie and a surgical mask and took a taxi to 34A Hart Street. He carried an eight-inch kitchen knife with him.
Rudakubana entered a building where a Taylor Swift-themed workshop was being held. The class was advertised as a dance and yoga workshop, along with a bracelet-making activity class, all of which were themed around Swift’s music. Aimed at children between 6 and 11, the event was sold out, with around 26 children due to attend.
Rudakubana went into the class and began viciously stabbing the children. The class organisers, Heidi Liddle and Leanne Lucas, attempted to protect the children, resulting in Leanne being stabbed five times in the back. A man who was in the building, Jonathan Hayes, was also stabbed when he tried to disarm Rudakubana.
Rudakubana cooperated with the police when they arrived, dropping his knife, but the damage had been done. Two children had been killed, one would die the next day, and nine other children were injured. Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes were also in a critical condition after being stabbed, though they later recovered.
The victims
The lives of seven-year-old Elise Dot Stancombe and six-year-old Bebe King were taken by Rudakubana that day. Nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar died from her injuries the following day. Their deaths sparked outrage and riots around the country, but misinformation about the killer fuelled racist anti-immigration sentiment and results in attacks on mosques and hotels housing migrants.
The verdict
Rudakubana was charged with murder, possession of a bladed article, and attempted murder. He was also charged later with possession of a military study of an Al-Qaeda training manual and possession of ricin. These charges were separate, under the Terrorism Act 200 and the 1974 Biological Weapons Act.
Rudakubana pleaded guilty to all sixteen charges against him in January 2025. He was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years. Only months into his sentence, Rudakubana attacked a prison officer with boiling water.
The Southport stabbings are a frustrating case. Had the referrals to Prevent been taken seriously, it may never have happened. Rudakubana showed many signs of violence. While they were not completely ignored, more could have and should have been done to prevent the tragedy that he caused.
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