23 January 2025 , 17:07
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Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been jailed for at least 52 years.
The 18-year-old was branded ‘pure evil’ by the families of two of his victims, who sat through harrowing evidence about how their children were slaughtered on July 29 last year.
Apart from his guilty pleas and repeated outbursts during today’s hearing, Rudakubana had largely remained silent throughout his police interviews and the court process.
But Liverpool Crown Court heard he gloated about the killings while being held in a custody suite following his arrest, telling police ‘I’m so glad the children are dead, so glad’.
Handing him 13 life sentences and ordering he serve a minimum term of 52 years, Mr Justice Goose said: ‘It is highly likely he will never be released.’
In his sentencing remarks, the senior judge said of Rudakubana: ‘I am satisfied that for some time he had planned to kill as many people as he could – as the prosecution have called it, “a mass killing”.
‘He bought the knife he wanted to use, which had a particularly sharp point.
‘He had read information on how to stab people with the greatest effect to kill them.
‘He saw the publicity for a children’s party in Southport at The Hart Space dance studio and decided to kill as many as he could, targeting very young children.’