Why Axel Rudakubana didn't receive a whole life order for triple murder

Axel Rudakubana was today jailed for life with a minimum of 52 years behind bars for the murders of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar. The 18-year-old admitted murdering the three little girls earlier this week and returned to Liverpool Crown Court today, Thursday, in order to be sentenced.

He had previously refused to speak during any of his prior court appearances, with High Court judge Mr Justice Goose having entered not guilty pleas on his behalf. But his counsel Stanley Reiz KC asked for Rudakubana to be rearraigned on Monday, the day he was due to stand trial.

And the teenager then pleaded guilty to murdering six-year-old Bebe, seven-year-old Elsie and nine-year-old Alice, who were stabbed to death during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class at the Hart Space in Southport on July 29 last year. He further admitted attempting to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and two adults, Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, who also suffered serious knife wounds during the incident.

Rudakubana also entered guilty pleas to charges of possession of a bladed article in a public place, production of a biological toxin and possession of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism. Rudakubana initially entered court wearing a grey prison issue tracksuit and face mask and sat with his head bowed.

However, soon into proceedings the teenager started shouting "I need to speak to a paramedic because I feel ill. Judge I need to speak to a paramedic because I feel ill." However, the judge said paramedics had assessed him and deemed him fit to continue. But Rudakubana, who claimed he hadn't eaten for a number of days, continued to interrupt and said "I'm not going to remain quiet."

The judge then ordered him from the dock. He briefly returned after the court broke for lunch, but despite assuring Justice Goose that he would respect the proceedings, continued his disruption. He was again taken out of the dock and was not present when the judge sentenced him. A family member of one of the victims called Rudakubana a "coward" as he left the court for the first time.

Rudakubana's crimes are so severe that they may well have been deemed worthy of a whole life order. These were imposed on the likes of Lucy Letby, Wayne Couzens and Mark Fellows in recent years and mean that an offender can never be considered for release.

However, under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, whole life orders can only be given to a defendant who was aged 18 or above at the time of committing their crimes. Rudakubana was aged 17 on the date of his offences in July last year, being a mere matter of days shy of his 18th birthday, and is therefore not eligible for a whole life order.

Sentencing, Justice Goose said: "On the 29th July last year Rudakubana left home and travelled by taxi to The Hart Space in Hart Street, Southport, armed with a large kitchen knife which he had bought on the internet on the 13th July. He knew that there was to be a Taylor Swift-themed yoga and dance workshop, where very young girls mostly aged between 6 and 11, were to enjoy an organised party safely in an upstairs room, where the organisers were to look after them.

"There were 26 children at the party, all of them happy and enjoying themselves. It started at 9.30am that morning on a warm summer’s day, but he had targeted those very young children for the horrific, extreme violence he was intent upon. At 11.45am that morning he arrived and walked straight into the building, up the stairs to where he could hear the sound of happy children.

"In his mind was the intention to murder as many of them as he physically could. He wanted to try and carry out mass murder of innocent, happy young girls. Over about 15 minutes he savagely killed three of them, and attempted to kill eight more, as well as two adults who tried to stop him. It was of such extreme violence, of the utmost and exceptionally high seriousness, that it is difficult to comprehend why it was done.

"I am sure that Rudakubana had a settled and determined intention to carry out these offences, and that had he been able to, he would have killed each and every child, all 26 of them, as well as any adults who got in his way. It was only because some managed to escape, that prevented many more from being murdered. I am also sure that after the other children, eight of whom he had very seriously injured, managed to escape, it left him in the upstairs room and landing, where he returned to continue his sustained and brutal violence against two of the youngest of those children, stabbing them multiple times.

"That demonstrated how determined you were to cause the maximum suffering you could. Left alone with them where they had fallen, he continued shocking and extreme violence. Many, who have heard the evidence summarised by the prosecution in this hearing and having seen the CCTV recordings played with a view from the outside of the building, might describe what he did as evil - who could dispute it? On any view, it was at least the most extreme, shocking and exceptionally serious crime."

The judge added: "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 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 you could, targeting very young children."

That punishment is thought to be the longest imposed on a person of his age but it will still be reviewed amid criticim it was not long enough. Southport’s Labour MP Patrick Hurley said the sentence was “not severe enough” and he has asked the Attorney General to review the sentence as “unduly lenient”, adding: “We need a sentence that represents the severity of this crime that has terrorised the victims and their families.”

Within minutes of Rudakubana being jailed, the Attorney General’s Office said the case had been referred under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, which requires just one request in order for punishments handed out in court to be reconsidered. Attorney General Lord Hermer and Solicitor General Lucy Rigby have 28 days to decide whether to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal.

There is a high threshold for successful referrals under the scheme. The sentence must be deemed to be not just lenient but unduly so, for example if the judge has made an error or imposed a sentence outside the usual range associated with the circumstances of an offence.