Dozens donate to victims' fundraiser after killer Axel Rudakubana is jailed for 52 years

Floral tributes for the victims of the Southport stabbings
-Credit:Jan Kruger/Getty Images


Dozens of people continue to donate to a fundraiser to help the families of those affected by the Southport stabbings after triple murderer Axel Rudakubana was jailed.

Rudakubana was 17 when he murdered Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July 2024. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years last Thursday (January 23).

Rudakubana, now 18, from Banks, had earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and the attempted murder of 10 other people, including eight children. The judge, Mr Justice Goose, told Liverpool Crown Court it is highly unlikely Rudakubana will ever be released.

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In the wake of the killings last July, Community Foundations for Lancashire and Merseyside launched a GoFundMe page to raise money to support the victims' families.

The organisers wrote: "On behalf of preschool dance companies in the UK, we have united to raise funds to support those affected by the tragic stabbing incident in Southport on Monday 29th July 2024.

"The dance world is a wonderful community of people who gain such joy from dancing and it's impossible to comprehend what has happened at this dance class. All funds raised will go directly to the families affected to help them in whatever way they may need."

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Since Rudakubana was jailed dozens more people have donated, with the single highest donation recorded as £500. A total of £152,030 has been raised so far and the fundraiser remains open.

Axel Rudakubana has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years
Axel Rudakubana has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years -Credit:Merseyside Police/PA Wire

Last week's sentencing hearing heard heartbreaking statements from survivors and the families of the victims.

Leanne Lucas, the dance instructor running the class who was stabbed five times by Rudakubana, told the court: "For Alice, Elsie, Bebe, Heidi and the surviving girls, I’m surviving for you."

Alice da Silva Aguiar's parents remembered their “strong and confident” girl who had enjoyed “a world of dreams and unlimited potential”.

The family-of-three had been planning to surprise Alice with a birthday trip to Disneyland in October, just three months after she was maimed at the dance class she attended to celebrate one of her favourite singers. “Life was a bliss,” they said.

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Elsie Dot Stancombe’s mother declined to list what her family had lost on 29 July “because we refuse to give you [Rudakubana] the satisfaction of hearing it”. In words directed at the defendant, who was twice asked to leave the courtroom for interrupting, she said: “You deliberately chose that place, fully aware there would be no parents present, fully aware that those girls were vulnerable and unable to protect themselves.

“This was not an act of impulse; it was premeditated. You chose that place, that time and those circumstances, knowing that when we arrived, all we would see was the aftermath of the devastation caused.

“We were robbed of the opportunity to protect our girls … What you did was not only cruel and pure evil; it was the act of a coward.”

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