A British teenager who killed three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event was jailed for at least 52 years on Thursday after an attack so violent prosecutors said it appeared he had tried to decapitate one of the victims.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, admitted killing the girls and stabbing 10 others last July in the northern English town of Southport, a crime that shocked Britain and was followed by days of nationwide rioting.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer told Liverpool Crown Court Rudakubana was obsessed with violence and genocide, and that two of his victims had suffered such terrible injuries they were “difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature”.
Judge Julian Goose said Rudakubana should serve a minimum of 52 years. He could not impose a full life sentence as Rudakubana was 17 when the attack took place but that he was unlikely ever to be released.
“What he did on the 29th of July last year has caused such shock and revulsion to the whole nation that it must be viewed as being at the very extreme level of crime,” Goose said.
Twice during Thursday’s hearing, Rudakubana was removed from the dock after shouting he was unwell. He refused to return to court to hear his sentence.
The court was shown harrowing video footage of screaming girls fleeing the building. One bloodied girl collapsed outside, provoking gasps and sobs from the court’s public gallery.
“He targeted us because we were women and girls, vulnerable and easy prey,” Leanne Lucas, 36, the yoga teacher who organised the event and was stabbed five times, told the court.
Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, were killed. They were among 26 children attending the summer vacation event.
Two suffered dozens of sharp force injuries which Rudakubana inflicted with a knife he bought online, Heer said.
