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Knife attacker Axel Rudakubana has pleaded guilty to murdering three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on the first day of his trial. The 18-year-old, from Banks in Lancashire, admitted to the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe on 29 July 2024. Not guilty pleas had been entered on his behalf at a previous hearing.
But as the case was about to begin at Liverpool Crown Court, Stan Reisz KC, defending, asked for the charges to be put to his client again and he pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder, along with two terror-related charges. He was accused of producing the biological toxin ricin and a charge under the Terrorism Act related to possessing an Al-Qaeda training manual. As each charge was put to him, Rudakubana, who had his face covered with a PPE mask, quietly said "guilty" to each count on the indictment.
Mr Justice Goose, the trial judge, said: "Axel Rudakubana, you can hear me, I know. "Those who sit with me say you have nodded your head to indicate you can hear what I am saying. "You have now pleaded guilty to this indictment, to each of the charges upon it.
"You will be sentenced on Thursday." He told him it was "inevitable" that he would impost a life sentence..
