Axel Rudakubana, of Banks, Lancashire, will stand trial charged with the murders of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July.

A former chairman of the Conservative Party has claimed that the beginning of Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana’s trial was scheduled on the same day as Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration as “a calculated and cynical move by the Labour Government to ‘bury bad news’ behind international headlines”.

The 18-year-old pleaded guilty to all 16 offences he faced on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday. | ITV News Granada

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, were murdered by Axel Rudakubana last summer.

The 18-year-old’s disruptions meant he was not in court as the judge handed him one of the longest minimum terms on record.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, was sentenced to over 50 years in prison for killing three young girls and wounding 10 others at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England last summer. Police’s raid at his house has revealed his ‘longstanding obsession with violence,

Here is a timeline of what was known when about Southport killer Axel Rudakubana: Axel Rudakubana becomes known to a range of local agencies due to anxiety, social isolation and challenging behaviour. In October he takes a knife to school, and in December attacks another child with a hockey stick.

Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana used a knife that he bought from Amazon when he was still 17 to kill three girls at a dance class in July 2024.

DCI Jason Pye, who led the investigation, said no training course could have prepared his officers for the horror of what they saw.

The Southport killer said 'I’m glad they’re dead' as he was held in a custody suite after killing three girls at a dance class, the court heard

Axel Rudakubana has been handed a 52 year sentence for the murder of three young girls at a dance class in Southport last summer. | ITV News Granada

Rudakubana cowardly refused to come into the dock at Liverpool Crown Court when he was being sentenced by the judge