Southport murders one year on from girls' brave fight to 'most dangerous' prisoner

On July 29, 2024, a group of innocent children attended a Taylor Swift dance workshop in the seaside town of Southport for what should have been a joyful morning. Tragically, three of them would never return.

Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were murdered by twisted killer Axel Rudakubana, who went on a killing frenzy at The Hart Space community studio as the sold-out event was just wrapping up. Ten others were injured, the majority of whom were children.

Today, a three-minute silence will be held at 3pm, as the people of Southport vow not to “allow evil to define” them one year on from the devastation.

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Last year, flowers were laid outside of Southport Town Hall, a reminder of the bright young lives that were so cruelly taken. Now, plans are also in place for the creation of legacy gardens, which will serve as a more permanent tribute to Bebe, Elsie, and Alice. Deputy leader of Sefton Council, Paulette Lappin, said: “It will be designed for the enjoyment and the fun of children, so that all children can come and they can all play in here. That’s what we have to remember, that it is an absolutely terrible tragedy, but we cannot allow evil to define us.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has stated that the nation will come together today "to show our sorrow and solidarity" for "the people of Southport, who have shown Britain the meaning of community."

Here, the Mirror takes a look at the harrowing year that has passed since the killings that shocked the country, as the community of Southport and the victims' families bravely adapt to the unwelcome new life forced upon them.

• Southport killer Axel Rudakubana 'most dangerous prisoner in Britain' amid 'new threats'

• Southport teen sobs as she 'blames herself' for not being able to save stabbing victims

Shock plea

In January of this year, on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court, Rudakubana, who was arrested at the scene, pleaded guilty to all 16 offences he faced. These charges included the murders of the three little girls, as well as the attempted murders of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas, and businessman John Hayes.

Rudakubana, who was 17 years old at the time of his attack, also pleaded guilty to possessing a knife on the date of the killings, producing the biological toxin ricin, and possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

As was anticipated, Cardiff-born Rudakubana did not receive a whole-life order, a measure which is usually only imposed on criminals aged 21 or over. Instead, the teenager was given a life sentence, of which he must serve a minimum of 52 years.

The now 18-year-old killer repeatedly disrupted sentencing proceedings by shouting in court, at one point screaming at the judge and demanding to see a paramedic. Those in court were also forced to wait 50 minutes before cowardly Rudakubana finally made his way to the dock, where he buried his head between his knees.

At sentencing, Judge Mr Justice Goose stated: "I consider it is likely at this time that he will never be released" for what he described as "the most extreme, shocking and exceptionally serious crime.” Describing the attack as "the most extreme, shocking and exceptionally serious crime", the judge asserted that Rudakubana had “wanted to try and carry out mass murder of innocent, happy young girls. It was such extreme violence… it is difficult to comprehend why it was done."

He added: “I am sure Rudakubana had the settled determination to carry out these offences and had he been able to, he would have killed each and every child – all 26 of them.”

Mum jailed

In the aftermath of the tragedy, there was widespread disruption and rioting across the country, after misinformation about the killer's identity sparked anti-immigration protests.

As the chaos unfolded, the wife of a Conservative councillor was arrested and handed a 31-month prison sentence after writing a social media post which incited racial hatred online. In a message shared via X, Lucy Connolly wrote: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*****g hotels full of the b******s for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it.”

The post was viewed 310,000 times in just three and a half hours before Connolly deleted it. She was arrested on August 6, with officers discovering other messages containing racist remarks after seizing her phone. In October, Connolly was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court after pleading guilty to a charge of inciting racial hatred.

In May of this year, Connolly's bid to have her sentence dismissed by Lord Justice Holroyde, Mr Justice Goss, and Mr Justice Sheldon at London's Court of Appeal.

In his written judgment, Lord Justice Holroyde, said: “There is no arguable basis on which it could be said that the sentence imposed by the judge was manifestly excessive. The application for leave to appeal against sentence therefore fails and is refused.”

He went on to state that the principal ground of appeal “was substantially based on a version of events put forward by the applicant which we have rejected”.

Connolly, 41, previously told of how she had not intended the post to incite violence. Giving evidence from HMP Drake Hall in Eccleshall, Staffordshire, the former childminder said that she'd been “really angry, really upset” and “distressed that those children had died” as she knew how the parents would have felt.

Connolly, who is the wife of former Tory West Northamptonshire district councillor Raymond Connolly, said: “Those parents still have to live a life of grief. It sends me into a state of anxiety, and I worry about my children.”

The court heard how, around 14 years ago, Connolly’s own son had died tragically, with the news of the murders bringing back a resurgence of her anxieties over this.

Adam King, who represented Connolly, asked his client if she'd intended for anyone to set fire to asylum hotels, or “murder any politicians”. She responded: “Absolutely not.”

Connolly also claimed that during discussions with her barrister at the Crown Court, she had not understood that by pleading guilty, she was accepting that she had intended to incite violence.

Girls' brave fight

Back in April, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper formally launched a two-phase statutory public inquiry into the murders, with the first phase intended to “thoroughly investigate” the circumstances surrounding the attack.

This first phase, which began at Liverpool Town Hall earlier this month, focuses on issues around policing, the criminal justice system, and the multiple agencies involved with Rudakubana, after it emerged the depraved murderer had referred to the Government’s Prevent scheme on three occasions, only for the cases to be closed.

The inquiry, held at Liverpool Town Hall, heard evidence from families of the children who survived the attack, including the parents of a girl who can only be identified as ‘C3’. She was seriously injured in Axel Rudakubana’s attack in Southport but survived.

Her father, who also cannot be identified, read the statement from the witness box in Liverpool Town Hall. He described Rudakubana, who he did not name, as a “coward” - and said his daughter is “our hero”. Reading the joint statement with his wife by his side, he said she was stabbed from behind “by a coward she didn’t even see”.

The mother of a girl known as ‘C1’ told how her daughter escaped the initial attack but was then dragged back into the building by Rudakubana. “That is how she became known in this nightmare - the girl that was dragged back in,” she said. “She is so much more than that moment on CCTV. Those moments carried so much courage and determination to survive, that the CCTV footage does not tell us.”

C1 suffered 33 stab wounds and underwent two life-saving operations in hospital. Her mother said: “The damage was catastrophic. The hours and days that followed the attack were a living hell. Her mother said the most devastating thing to come to terms with was that there were “no adults to help” her daughter. “She was only supported by other children,” she said. “The courage and strength she found leaves me crushed, but in complete awe.

“I would like to say that I don't for a moment doubt that the actions of the teachers there that day saved lives. They escaped to call the police and flag down help, they shielded other children. I am grateful for what they did for those girls.

“But the uncomfortable and often unspoken truth of our own reality is that, when the adults left in those first moments, our daughter had to save herself. It is these untold stories of remarkable strength and bravery that are missing when we have heard other accounts of this day.

“I think it is vitally important that those girls are now heard. She had fought like hell to get herself out of that building, twice, and that reality is painful. Our children fought alone, they shielded each other, comforted each other, and helped each other and that must be remembered.”

She described in detail how her daughter battled to save her life and the lives of others inside the building. “She tells me that she had tried to find a way out,” she said. “There was only one way to safety, to find her dad and that was down the stairs.

“She tells us how the door was narrow, and everyone was trying to push through. She describes it as a stampede. In the chaos she was knocked over and found herself trapped and huddled with two other children at the top of the stairs.

“She talks quietly of how she put her arms around the girls as he began to attack them. She tells me with such clarity that a moment came where one of the girls was able to get up. She put the girl's hand on the handrail and told her to go — to get down the stairs - and she did.

“The attack continued, she was still holding another girl, ‘I crouched over the top of her’, she says. ‘I told her it would be okay’. She recalls this with such purpose and determination, like it was her responsibility. ‘It happened so fast, but I helped them, I'm glad I could help them, mum’, she tells me.

“She pulled herself up on the middle landing and tells me how she yelled for the other girl to follow her. But he started coming after her and she had to run. She tells me how she couldn't breathe, and things were getting fuzzy. She had, we believe, about five or six stab wounds by this point.

“Somehow, she emerges from the building and we see her, for a brief moment on CCTV, escaping, finding help, showing so much strength. But her arm is badly injured and it's trailing behind, and he grabs it. In a flash of struggle, she's gone again. For eleven seconds she is out of sight.

“And then there she is again. She has stood up after enduring another attack of more than twenty stab wounds to her back and shoulders. She stumbles outside to the windows reaching for help. She eventually falls and soon after is carried to safety. She may be a survivor of this attack, but she is still trying to survive this, every single day."

The inquiry will next move on to a second phase, which will look at the wider issue of young people being drawn into extreme violence. This ongoing inquiry is being chaired by former vice-president of the Court of Appeal, Sir Adrian Fulford, who previously sentenced Sarah Everard’s killer, Wayne Couzens, to a whole-life term.

On July 16, Chris Walker, director of law firm Bond Turner, which represents Southport victims' families, called upon the public inquiry to establish the “key decisions” that were made in Rudakubana's case. This followed a report by interim Prevent commissioner Lord Anderson, which found that lessons “must continue to be learned” from the failure to stop Rudakubana and, separately, Ali Harbi Ali, who murdered MP Sir David Amess in 2021.

Mr Walker stated: “We note the findings of the report pointing to the failings of Prevent in the Southport case, in particular that referrals to other agencies who could have intervened with the defendant were not followed through with. Given the disturbing and violent behaviour exhibited, opportunities to intervene were then lost.

“We now turn to the inquiry in establishing the key decisions that were made in this case, who made them and how, if they had not been made, would the results have been different.

“We have been clear from the start of the inquiry process that, as representatives of the bereaved families, real change needs to come in order to prevent other families going through what my clients face.

“Lord Anderson is right that lessons must be learned and we call upon the Government and authorities to ensure they do more than simply paying lip service. We now need time to digest the recommendations of the report alongside our clients.”

'Most dangerous prisoner'

Even behind bars, Rudakubana is continuing to demonstrate violent behaviour. In May, it was reported that the inmate had allegedly attacked a prison officer by throwing boiling water over them. Earlier this month, it was reported that Rudakubana had allegedly levelled further threats at staff at HMP Belmarsh, forcing them to take measures only applied to the "most dangerous" inmates.

Speaking with The Sun, a source claimed that prison staff are living in fear that Rudakubana - who "has nothing to lose" - could attack, while several threats have allegedly been noted.

They alleged: "Threats are noted on the system if a prisoner says things like, 'I will kill you' or 'I will smash your face'. Notes have been kept about Rudakubana - and they all point to him being the most dangerous prisoner in Britain."

This source also claimed that Rudakubana may only be allowed out of his cell during a "five-man unlock", whereby five members of staff equipped with SWAT equipment are on hand to ensure nobody gets hurt.

This "incredibly rare" was reportedly last used with notorious inmate Charles Bronson. Despicable Rudakubana has allegedly also been banned from HMP Belmarsh's IT systems, including the intranet prisoners use to order canteen food and partake in educational courses.

The source continued: "It just shows how dangerous he is. And it is even more rare for someone to be banned from all IT and computer systems. That happens only to the most dangerous terrorists in the system.

“Inmates cannot go online, but they do things like order from the canteen and education courses on the intranet-style system. But even that is seen as too dangerous for Rudakubabana. He is completely unrepentant and as far from being rehabilitated as you can get.”

PM's message of solidarity

Taking to social media platform X this morning (Tuesday, July 29), Sir Keir Starmer wrote: "One year on, the whole nation stands with the families of Bebe, Alice, and Elsie.

"We stand together in grief, in honour of the memory of those wonderful children, and in admiration of the families who have shown strength beyond words. We stand with all the children and adults who still bear the physical and mental scars of that day - and in awe of those who risked their lives to help.

"And we stand with the people of Southport, who have shown Britain the meaning of community. The nation wants to put its arms around you all. We will come together today to show our sorrow and solidarity. But also to show our determination to uphold the true legacy of Bebe, Alice, and Elsie - one of joy, kindness, and love."

Meanwhile, in her own X post, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch stated that the lives of the "three innocent young girls" were "extinguished in an act of pure evil". Ms Badenoch said: "We honour the memories of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, and Alice da Silva Aguiar.

"Their families, and those that survived, carry unimaginable grief and trauma. We owe it to them, the people of Southport and communities across the country, to demand justice and learn the painful lessons of state failure to ensure nothing like this ever happens again."

Those wishing to pay their respects have been asked not to leave flowers at the crime scene or at the girls' schools. Instead, it's been suggested that members of the public could consider making donations to local causes, including funds set up in the names of the victims, and the Southport Strong Together Appeal, established last year to support those affected.

Although no large vigil will be held, churches and community centres will be open for anyone looking for support or a quiet space for reflection on what will be a difficult day for many. According to deputy leader of Sefton Council Paulette Lappin, plans for today have been guided by families, who had their "thoughts, compassion and incredible respect".

Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com