Who is Axel Rudakubana?
Eighteen-year-old Axel Rudakubana was born in Cardiff after his parents came to the UK from Rwanda, but later moved to Banks in Lancashire.
The teenager who carried out the Southport stabbings had a “sickening and sustained interest in death and violence”.
Eighteen-year-old Axel Rudakubana was born in Cardiff after his parents came to the UK from Rwanda, but later moved to Banks in Lancashire.
The family lived in a mid-terrace three-bedroom house in a newly-built cul-de-sac of a dozen or so properties, where neighbours described them as “unremarkable”.
But, behind closed doors, the youngest son was making a deadly poison and nursing a fascination with death, it has now emerged.
Deputy chief crown prosecutor Ursula Doyle said: “It is clear that this was a young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence. He has shown no sign of remorse.”
A search of their home following his arrest found a substance later confirmed to be ricin, which Rudakubana admitted production of on Monday.
A PDF file entitled Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants, The Al Qaeda Training Manual was also found on a device belonging to the teenager.
The family moved to Old School Close in 2013 and at the age of 11 Rudakubana featured in a television advert for BBC Children In Need, after being recruited through a casting agency, it is understood.
A now-deleted clip shows him leaving the Tardis wearing a trench coat and tie to look like the show’s former star David Tennant and offering advice on how best to raise money.
He attended Range High School in Formby, but was excluded in around 2019 after telling Childline that he was being racially bullied and was bringing a knife into school to protect himself, the PA news agency understands.
After his exclusion, he returned to the school and assaulted someone with a hockey stick, it is understood.
Rudakubana is then understood to have attended two specialist schools, The Acorns School in Lancashire and Presfield High School & Specialist College in Southport, and teachers were concerned about his behaviour.
It has now emerged that he was referred to the government anti-extremism scheme Prevent three times before the murders, amid concerns over his fixation with violence.
At his first appearance at Liverpool Crown Court, Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, said it was understood Rudakubana, who had a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, had been unwilling to leave the house and communicate with his family for a period of time.
She said: “He was seen by the psychiatrists at the police station but refused to engage with them.”
The court was told he had no obvious evidence of mental health disorder which required diversion to hospital.
His mother, father and older brother were co-operating with police and had provided witness statements.
Rudakubana spoke in court for the first time on Monday to enter his guilty pleas, having remained silent at all previous hearings.
When he first entered Liverpool Magistrates’ Court in August last year, he was seen to smile towards members of the press before covering his face.
At other appearances, he held his sweatshirt over his face and refused to speak.
