Southport knife attacker Axel Rudakubana may have been planning an atrocity at Range High School in Formby days before he murdered three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event
Southport killer Axel Rudakubana is feared to have been planning a massacre at his former school – a week before he murdered three young girls.
Rudakubana pleaded guilty on Monday to the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, on what was due to be the first day of the trial. He was 17 when he carried out the knife attacks at Southport’s Hart Space while a Taylor Swift-themed dance event was taking place.
It’s anticipated the 18-year-old could be handed a rare whole life order when he is sentence on Thursday, meaning he will spend the rest of his life in prison. The Mirror can now report how Rudakubana had ordered a taxi to the Range High School in Formby, Merseyside, on July 22 – a week before the attacks. But his dad Alphonse ran out of their home, in Banks, and pleaded with the taxi driver not to take him on the 15 mile journey.
The teenager was wearing a green hooded sweatshirt and surgical mask – the same clothing he wore when he headed to the Hart Space a week later. An eyewitness said: “There was a confrontation and Rudakubana was eventually persuaded to leave the vehicle.”
There is no suggestion his father knew what he is believed to have been planning at the school. In the July 22 incident, Rudakubana had booked a taxi to take him at 12.20pm to get him to Range High for lunchtime – when the school was breaking up for the summer holidays.
He had been a former pupil but left after a series of disturbing incidents several years earlier. It is claimed he was just 13, when he brought a knife to the premises before being suspended. He returned and produced a hockey stick, attacking pupils before being restrained by a teacher. On another occasion, pupils filmed him attempting to attack a teacher during a lesson, having to be restrained by three classmates.
On the day of the killings, Rudakubana donned the identical outfit he wore a week earlier, with hood pulled up over his head and face covered by a surgical mask. This time his parents are not believed to have been aware of his movements. The teenager, who is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, is believed to have left Range High School in around 2019, before moving to a specialist school.
Speaking outside court following the guilty pleas entered by Axel Rudakubana, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Ursula Doyle described it as an “unspeakable attack” leaving an “enduring mark” on the nation for its “savagery and senselessness”. It was heard how Rudakubana held a “sickening and sustained interest in death and violence”, showing “no sign of remorse”.
The families of the victims were not present in court on Monday. Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, confirmed the families had not attended as it was assumed the trial would open on Tuesday. Presiding judge Mr Justice Goose said he extended his apologies to the families that “for that reason they weren’t here to hear him enter his pleas”.
Southport MP Patrick Hurley has said the town would “never be the same again” following the events of July 29. Mr Hurley said: “The community has been healing, the town will obviously never be the same as it has been prior to July. There is surprise and shock at the development this morning but we are all hoping throughout the town that the families get the justice and the outcome they need.
“Everybody across the town and the families who are most closely involved and the families of the victims were bracing themselves for the next four weeks. It was never going to be an easy time for anybody here.”
Remanding Rudakubana into custody, Mr Justice Goode said: “You will understand it is inevitable the sentence to be imposed upon you will mean a life sentence equivalent will be imposed upon you. I will have to complete the sentencing process on that on that occasion.”
