LIVERPOOL: A teenager pleaded guilty on Monday to killing three teenage girls in a stabbing last year that sparked Britain’s most violent riots in a decade.
On what was to be the opening day of his trial, Axel Rudakubana, 18, admitted murdering the three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last year in Southport, northwest England.
The stabbing sent shockwaves across Britain, sparking unrest and riots in more than a dozen English and Northern Irish cities, including Southport and Liverpool.
Authorities blamed the far-right agitators for fueling violence, including by sharing disinformation that claimed the alleged attacker was an asylum seeker.
Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were killed in the attack in the seaside resort near Liverpool on July 29, 2024.
Ten others were injured, including eight children, in one of the country’s worst mass stabbings in years.
Rudakubana admitted a total of 16 charges, including the three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a blade.
He also admitted producing a biological toxin, ricin, as well as possessing an al-Qaeda training manual, although the attack has not been treated as a terrorist incident.
Wearing a gray tracksuit and a surgical mask, the teenager refused to stand in court and spoke only to say the word “guilty”. The judge ruled that he would be sentenced on Thursday.
Not guilty pleas were entered on Rudakubana’s behalf in December when he refused to testify in court and the case was set for a four-week trial.
The unrest surrounding the killings lasted several days and saw far-right rioters attack police, shops, hotels housing asylum seekers and mosques, with hundreds of participants subsequently arrested and charged.
Born in Wales to parents of Rwandan origin, Rudakubana lived in Banks, a village north-east of Southport.
Despite being 17 years old at the time, restrictions on reporting Rudakubana’s name were lifted in August due to concerns over the spread of misinformation.
Tribute
Taylor Swift, then in the middle of her Eras tour, wrote on Instagram that she was “completely in shock” after the attack on the dance class at the start of the school holidays.
The pop star reportedly met two of the survivors of the attack during her August shows in London.
The UK’s head of state, King Charles III, also traveled to Southport in August to meet with survivors and inspected a sea of floral tributes laid outside the town’s town hall.
Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William visited Southport in October “to show support for the local community”, Kensington Palace said. It was their first public engagement together since Kate finished a course of chemotherapy for cancer.
British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Monday that the coming days “will be a deeply traumatic and distressing time for the families”.
But she said it was important for the legal process to be allowed to continue so “justice can be done”.
Police had warned against spreading rumors on social media about the attack.
“We would strongly discourage anyone speculating about the motivation in this case,” Chief Constable Serena Kennedy was quoted as saying.
She urged people to be patient and “don’t believe everything you read on social media”.
