Axel Rudakubana, the 18-year-old who murdered three young girls in Southport last July, purchased a cache of deadly weapons and equipment to make the lethal poison ricin on Amazon at least two years before the attack, it has emerged. The purchases were made despite Rudakubana being known to the anti-radicalisation programme Prevent and other authorities since 2019.
On 29 July, Rudakubana entered a Taylor Swift-themed dance club in Southport armed with a 20cm kitchen knife and systematically stabbed 26 young girls, killing Bebe King, six, Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven. He also attempted to kill eight other children and two adults. Police described the attack as a planned and premeditated attempt at mass murder.
Rudakubana had been referred to Prevent three times—in 2019 and twice in 2021—including over concerns about his interest in school massacres. He was also on the radar of Lancashire Constabulary, who had multiple interactions with him between October 2019 and May 2022, including five calls from his family concerned about his behaviour.
On the day of the attack, six minutes before leaving home, Rudakubana searched for a video of the Sydney church stabbing. He used security software to hide his identity when ordering knives from Amazon, taking possession of two knives on 13 July, two weeks before the attack. At his home, police found a machete, knives, arrows, and items for making ricin.
His internet history revealed an obsession with extreme violence, including the Rwanda genocide, and material on Nazi Germany, Chechnya, and Al-Qaida. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a public inquiry into the failures that allowed the attack, stating the shortcomings “frankly leap off the page”.
