Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana, who murdered three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last July, was reportedly planning Britain’s first high school massacre a week before his knife rampage – but was stopped by his father.
Rudakubana’s dad pleaded with a taxi driver not to take him on the 15-mile journey from Banks, Lancashire to Range High School in Formsby, Merseyside, where he was expelled from five years earlier.
Tellingly, Rudakubana was wearing the same hooded sweatshirt and surgical mask he wore during the attack one week later.
He had booked the taxi under the name Simon, on what was the last day of term, but his dad ran out of the house to intervene. A week later, he booked a taxi under the same name to drive to him to the Taylor Swift dance class where he carried out the murders.
Boy, that’s a terrifying mugshot.
It turns out Rudakubana was referred to the government’s counter-terrorism Prevent programme three times, between 2019 and 2021, over his obsession with violence. However, it wasn’t their remit because there didn’t appear to be an ideology that fit the terrorism label.
On Monday, the 18-year-old admitted stabbing three young girls to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last July. He also pleaded guilty to the attempted murders of eight children and two adults, producing ricin, and the possession of an al-Qaeda training manual.
Again, despite the al-Qaeda training manual, Rudakubana’s case has never been treated as terror-related, as he didn’t appear to follow any ideology and was instead just obsessed with violence and murder. Maybe the al-Qaeda manual is just easiest to get hold of online?
18-year-old Rudakubana is due to be sentenced on Thursday and is expected to be given a life sentence (unfortunately he can’t be given a whole-life term because he was 17 when he carried out the murders).
Fair play to his dad for preventing him from travelling to his old school on that day, it’s just a shame he didn’t tell the police about it, or otherwise find a way to prevent the horror that unfolded a week later. Of course, we can’t say for sure that he knew exactly what his son was planning at his old school, but he must have suspected something to run outside and stop him.
RIP Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, and thoughts with their families as they continue to deal with this tragedy.
For the woman who was arrested for being the first to share the Southport suspect rumour that sparked all those riots in the summer, click HERE.
