Axel Rudakubana, the 20-year-old convicted of murdering three girls in Southport, is due to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday after being charged with attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to a prison worker in London.
The alleged incident took place at Belmarsh prison in south London on May 8, when Rudakubana is said to have thrown boiling water mixed with sugar at a staff member.
Earlier court hearing details
At a hearing at Westminster magistrates' court last month, it was heard that "prompt medical attention prevented lasting injury" to the worker.
Rudakubana is serving a life sentence for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults. He carried out the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29, 2024.
Additional charges
It is alleged that two days before the hot water incident, Rudakubana threatened to "soak" a female officer outside his cell if she did not pass him a newspaper. He is then alleged to have later thrown an unknown liquid at her through the hatch on his cell door.
He is also charged with two counts of assaulting an emergency worker on May 6 and October 28 last year, and possession of an offensive weapon in prison on June 26 last year. On the October date, Rudakubana allegedly punched a male officer who had challenged him. In June last year, it is claimed that sharpened stone shards, thought to have been prised from the floor of his cell, were found stuck to the underside of a shelving unit.
Transfer to Broadmoor
The defendant was charged on Tuesday, July 28, and the case was sent to the Old Bailey. He is due to appear by videolink from custody at 2pm on Monday at the central London court for a plea and trial preparation hearing before Judge Mark Lucraft KC.
In July this year, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that Rudakubana was transferred from his London prison to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital in Berkshire. Offenders who present an increased risk and cannot be managed safely in a prison environment because of mental disorders can be moved to secure psychiatric units, where people are treated as patients rather than prisoners. Broadmoor is the oldest of the UK's three high-security hospitals and has held some of the UK's most high-profile criminals, including Ronnie Kray and serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, also known as the Yorkshire Ripper.
