01 August 2024 , 14:09
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The 17-year-old boy charged with the murders of three young girls during a knife rampage at a holiday club in Southport can now be named as Axel Rudakubana.
It comes after the Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary KC, took the ‘exceptional’ step of lifting reporting restrictions which previously banned him from being identified due to his age.
The court heard Rudakubana was due to turn 18 next week, on August 7. Judge Menary said: ‘Continuing to prevent the full reporting has the disadvantage of allowing others to spread misinformation, in a vacuum.’
Rudakubana is charged with murdering Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at the Taylor Swift-themed dance class on Hart Street in the Merseyside town on Monday.
Eight other children suffered knife wounds – with five of them in a critical condition – while two adults were also seriously hurt.
The court heard Rudakubana was due to turn 18 next week, on August 7 (Picture: Facebook)
Two of the injured children have been discharged from hospital, Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust said today.
In a statement, the trust said: ‘We are delighted that two of the children involved in Monday’s awful incident have now been discharged.
‘We continue to treat five children involved in the devastating incident in Southport on Monday, including one recently transferred to us from Aintree University Hospital.
‘All the children in our care are currently in a stable condition. Our heartfelt sympathies remain with all those affected by Monday’s incident.’
What do we know about suspect Axel Rudakubana?
The teenager charged with the murders of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport is said to be an introvert with a background in musical theatre.
Axel Rudakubana, who turns 18 on Wednesday, was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, and had been living in the village of Banks, just outside Southport, at the time of the attack.
He has an older brother, who was also born in the Welsh capital, according to reports.
Helen, a neighbour of the family while they lived there, told the BBC of her shock, adding: ‘They were a lovely young couple. They were little boys, they were boisterous.
‘Mum was a stay at home mum, Dad was nice, he went to work every day. They had a small family car, a little hatchback.’
Another former neighbour of Rudakubana’s family described him as a ‘quiet’ boy who was clingy to his mother as a child.
A 51-year-old teaching assistant who lives opposite the family’s former home, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘There were no problems while they were living here – they were a friendly couple with two little boys.
‘I can’t believe what’s happened.’
Rudakubana would accompany his father to karate classes as a child, sensei Chico Mbakwe, an instructor in Cardiff, said.
He said: ‘He would come and do grading and his father would take him home. I can’t even really remember the boy but can vaguely remember the dad.
‘The last time I saw the father he was taking part in his grading, he wasn’t my student, he was somebody else’s.’
The family reportedly moved to the Southport area around 2013 and lived in a semi-detached property in a quiet cul-de-sac in Banks.
Neighbours have said the family are ‘heavily involved with the local church’, and that they would often hear singing from their house, the Liverpool Echo reported.
The Times reported that Rudakubana has a background in musical theatre.
A friend from his musical theatre group told the newspaper he ‘turned up one day in class, and they said “make him welcome, because he’s just moved from quite far away”’.
He was said to have appeared in a musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the West End.
‘I think it was more him trying to branch out and meet kids in the community… he was enjoying it but you know, with musical theatre kids… they’re very extroverted, he wasn’t, he was very quiet,’ the friend said.
‘He didn’t really talk about himself that much.’
The friend said he ‘didn’t speak about Rwanda’ but ‘you could definitely tell with his accent’.
The Daily Mail said his parents are now believed to be in hiding.
Rudakubana is also accused of the attempted murder of two adults, yoga class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes, as well as the attempted murder of the eight other children who cannot be named for legal reasons and possession of a kitchen knife with a curved blade.
The teen, who spent the entire 55 minutes of the hearing covering his whole face, with his grey sweatshirt pulled up to his hairline, and at times rocking back and forth and side to side, will next appear at Liverpool Crown Court on October 25.
A provisional trial date, lasting six weeks, was scheduled for January 20, next year.
He was remanded into youth detention accommodation.
Rudakubana was escorted to his first court appearance this morning under a heavy police guard.
(From left to right) Alice Dasilva Aguiar, Bebe King, and Elsie Dot Stancombe were stabbed to death at the dance studio in Hart Street on Monday (Picture: Merseyside Police)
The large police presence comes amid concern protesters could turn up at the courthouse after rioting in several parts of the country since the attack.
Disorder has broken out in some towns in England, with more than 100 people arrested at a protest in Whitehall on Wednesday night, while there was also unrest in Hartlepool, Manchester and Aldershot.
The string of violent incidents follows similar scenes in Southport on Tuesday, where demonstrators attacked police and set cars on fire.
After rioting broke out in Southport, Elsie’s mum, Jenni Stancombe, wrote on Facebook: ‘This is the only thing that I will write, but please stop the violence in Southport tonight.
‘The police have been nothing but heroic these last 24 hours and they and we don’t need this.’