Southport killer Axel Rudakubana charged over alleged attacks on prison staff

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been charged with attacking prison staff at Belmarsh.

The 19-year-old is serving a life sentence for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults.

He was charged on Tuesday, a day before the two-year anniversary of the knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29, 2024.

Rudakubana, who has since been moved to Broadmoor Hospital, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video-link on September 11.

In May last year, it was alleged he used a kettle in his cell to heat water up and then poured boiling water over a prison officer.

He has been charged with two counts of assaulting an emergency worker, on May 6 and October 28, as well as attempted GBH on May 8 and unauthorised possession of a weapon in prison on June 26, all in 2025.

Victims and survivors of the Southport attack were remembered in a three-minute silence in the town on Wednesday.

A lawyer for the families of the children murdered by Rudakubana accused him of trying to ‘retraumatise’ them from his prison cell and of playing the system with his move to Broadmoor.

Chris Walker told BBC Breakfast: ‘It’s a deep concern of mine that this is a pattern starting to develop by him trying to retraumatise the families from his cell, and it’s a deep concern that this is going to occur every anniversary.’

Offenders who present an increased risk and cannot be managed safely in a prison environment because of mental disorders can be moved to secure psychiatric units.

People in these units are treated as patients rather than prisoners.

Broadmoor, in Berkshire, is the oldest of the UK’s three high-security hospitals and has held some of the UK’s most high-profile criminals, including Ronnie Kray and serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, also known as the Yorkshire Ripper.

Under the Mental Health Act, officials acting for the Justice Secretary have no choice but to accept the advice of clinical professionals to transfer prisoners to a secure facility.

An offender in a secure hospital will be compelled to engage with treatment and to undertake therapies before any return to prison or release into the community.

Where offenders no longer require treatment in hospital, the Act allows a swift return to prison.

Earlier this year, a public inquiry into the attack, carried out by Axel Rudakubana, found it ‘could and should have been prevented’ if steps had been taken by agencies and his parents.