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The British public finally learned all the horrifying details of this targeted attack, including the warning signs that were ignored and the trauma and soul-shattering losses the survivors and grieving families say they will never get over.
New details have been released about the gruesome attack on a dance class for young girls in Southport, U.K., as well as the catastrophic failures of government officials to stop the attack despite numerous signs that the assailant was a threat.
Axel Rudakubana, the now 18-year-old who attacked the Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July, was sentenced on January 23 to at least 52 years in prison after he pled guilty to the murder of 3 young girls โ Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9 โ as well as the attempted murder of 10 others.
Now that he has been sentenced, more information and court records have been released regarding the attack and the signs the government ignored indicating that Rudakubana, a first generation migrant, was planning to commit such an act.
Rudakubana called a taxi to his home and headed to the Hart Space dance studio wearing a green hoodie with the hood pulled tightly around his face and a surgical mask. Upon arriving he exited the taxi, walked to the door of the studio, and jostled the locked handle but was unable to open it. He then found another door, entered the studio, and without saying a word stabbed the child closest to the door.
Those inside the room didnโt realize what was happening initially.
One of the victims, a young girl who was unnamed due to her age, testified that โI thought the man who stabbed me was a cleaner.โ
She thought it was a prank initially but said she realized it wasnโt โwhen I saw blood coming out of me.โ
The studio, which only a moment prior had been filled with laughter as the girls made friendship bracelets, became a place of horror and chaos as the girls tried to flee from their attacker.
Rudakubana chased girls down as they ran and stabbed them. He stabbed dance teacher Leanne Lucas in the back, arms, and neck as she shielded girls with her body and yelled for the girls to โrun away.โ
Details released show that Rudakubana stabbed King 122 times and stabbed Stancombe 85 times.
Nine-year-old da Silva Aguiar was stabbed repeatedly but managed to escape. She then staggered into the street and collapsed. She was taken to a hospital where she fought for her life for 14 hours before dying from her injuries.
Some of the girls escaped by running out of the building down the stairs while two others also stumbled onto the street before collapsing.
Another adult who helped organize the class was Heidi Liddle. She was on the floor helping girls make friendship bracelets when she heard screaming. When she realized what was happening she began pushing girls to run out the door and tried to pull Lucas away when she saw the teacher had been stabbed. She then saw one of the girls running to a bathroom and followed in behind her where she locked the door and braced her foot against the door.
Rudakubana attempted to bust into the bathroom to attack them but was unable to.
His extreme desire to kill the children was further shown in his attack on one of the children who survived. One seven-year-old girl, identified as Child-A, escaped, but the attacker pulled her back inside and stabbed her 30 times. She managed to stumble into the street and collapsed. She was airlifted to the hospital for her injuries, and while she survived, she has been left with lifelong injuries.
Jonathan Hayes, a man whose business is next to the studio, was also stabbed when he ran inside and tried to stop the attack.
When police arrived they found Rudakubana standing over Kingโs body. Prosecutors said that when he was arrested, he said. โItโs a good thing those children are dead, Iโm so glad, Iโm so happy.โ
Rudakubana could not be sentenced to life without parole because he committed the murders just nine days short of his 18th birthday. However, he will serve 52 years in prison before he will be able to apply for parole. Justice Julian Goose said it was unlikely Rudakubana would ever be released from prison.
โI am sure Rudakubana had the settled determination to carry out these offenses, and had he been able to, he would have killed each and every child โ all 26 of them,โ Goose stated.
โWhat he did on July 29 last year has caused such shock and revulsion to the whole nation, that it must be viewed as being at the extreme level of crime,โ Goose said.
Yet Goose said he โmust acceptโ that the act did not meet the legal definition of terrorism because he ostensibly did not act to further a religious, political, or ideological cause.
Police found documents in his home related to Nazi Germany, the Rwandan genocide, car bombs, and the โMilitary Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants, the Al-Qaida Training Manual.โ Police also found that he had made the biological weapon ricin.
Despite all this evidence, police did not treat the attack as terrorism because he did not display allegiance to one particular cause.
Since the age of 13 Rudakubana had shown numerous signs that he was a risk for such a heinous act, and he was well known to authorities.
He was kicked out of school in 2019 when he was 13 because he brought a knife to school and threatened to kill another student. He called Childline, a childrenโs counseling service, and asked, โWhat should I do if I want to kill somebody?โ
He soon returned to the school with a hockey stick and a list of names of teachers and students he wanted to harm. He was sent to a specialist school where staff became concerned over his behavior.
He was known to social services, who often requested police presence at meetings for their security.
He was referred to the nationโs anti-extremism group Prevent three times when he was 13 to 14 years old. Once was because he was looking up information about school shootings while at school. Another time was for uploading pictures of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to Instagram. The third time was for researching a terror attack in London.
Prevent didnโt intervene because he showed no clear ideology.
Between 2019 and 2022 police were called to his home five times due to concerns about his actions.
Neighbors claim days before the attack his father stopped him from getting in a taxi to go to his former school.
One of the victims, a 14-year-old who was helping with the class, said, โThe beginning of my nightmare started when I saw you. I thought you were playing a joke. I saw you in your green hoodie and face mask. The thing I remember most about you is your eyes. You looked possessed and you didn’t look human.โ
โYou stabbed my arm so severely that my arm looked like it was inside out. You stabbed me in the back so hard that you fractured my spine. My lung collapsed,โ she said.
She recounted that she and her sister, who was present but unharmed, have constantly been reliving the attack. Her sister needed her parents to check all the doors and windows at night and the two needed their mother to sleep in their room because they were so afraid.
But Rudakubana didnโt hear what she said because he had been removed from the court room. Two different times he disrupted the hearing, including once when he shouted that he felt ill and was removed. The victims and their families shook their heads as he was removed and called him a coward.
Lucas testified of the โscars we cannot unseeโ as she struggles with mental health problems and the guilt of having survived while children died.
โAs a 36-year-old woman I cannot walk down the street without holding my breath as I bypass a person and then glance back to see if they’ve attempted to stab me,โ she confessed.
“As a 36-year-old woman I cannot enter a public place without considering how I will get out in the event of an emergency. As a 36-year-old woman I cannot give myself compassion or accept praise, as how can I live knowing I survived when children died?โ
Jenny Stancombe, mother of Elsie, stated, โYou deliberately chose that place, fully aware that there would be no parents present, fully aware that those girls were vulnerable and unable to protect themselves.โ
Alice da Silva Aguiarโs parents testified that they felt their lives had ended, saying,
โOur dream girl has been taken away in such a horrible, undeserving way that it shattered our souls.
We’re heartbroken that we can never help Alice fulfill her dreams, we can’t hug her anymore, brush her hair, take her to school through her beloved Botanic Gardens.
We used to cook for three. Now we only cook for two. It doesnโt seem right. Alice was our purpose for living, so what do we do now?โ
This didnโt have to happen. There were numerous chances to stop Rudakubana from committing this detestable action. Yet the government chose to do nothing because his actions didnโt neatly fit their definition of a terror concern. This must change. The U.K. government must change how it views criminal behavior and terror threats.
Many questions need to asked and answered: Why was Rudakubana obsessed with hurting others? Why was he not in a detention center or institution? Why does the U.K. government increasingly put political correctness above public safety?
The truth of this case is that there are people in this world who are evil. Rudakubana is one of those people. There is little that can be said about this truly horrifying incident that can bring comfort to the victims and their families. There are clearly changes that should be made in the U.K. and across the West to increase public protection and restore sanity, but maybe this isnโt the best time to talk about all that.
For now, let us pray for the victims and their families and pray that government officials will start making the kind of wise, courageous, and righteous decisions that will make the U.K. a safe country for children again.
Photo: (left to right) Bebe King, 6; Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9; and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7.
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