Southport MP calls for 'unduly lenient' Rudakubana sentence to be reviewed

Southport MP Patrick Hurley
-Credit:PA


Southport's Member of Parliament has called for the jail sentence handed down to murderer Axel Rudakabana today to be reviewed as he believes it is 'unduly lenient.'

Rudakabana was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years today for stabbing children Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar to death during a violent rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in Hart Street in Southport on July 29 last year. He also tried to kill eight other children and two adults.

At Liverpool Crown Court today, High Court judge Mr Justice Goose explained that because Rudakubana was aged 17 when he carried out the horrific attacks, he could not be handed a whole life term. He said such a sentence would have been imposed if the killer was 18 at the time of the murders.

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However, the judge added that it is unlikely he will ever be released from prison as he sentenced him to a minimum of 52 years. But Southport MP Patrick Hurley was not happy with the length of the sentence.

In a statement released on social media, he said: "'I've just heard the sentencing of Axel Rudakubana at Liverpool Crown Court. In my view, the sentence passed is unduly lenient. The crimes he committed were horrific and natural justice demands he spends the rest of his life behind bars."

He added: "I have therefore made a request to the Attorney General to have the sentence reviewed urgently, with a view to making sure he is never released. My community deserves nothing less."