Southport killer’s sentence will not be referred for appeal – Attorney General

The Southport child killer’s sentence will not be referred to the Court of Appeal, the Attorney General has said.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, was jailed for minimum of 52 years in January, after murdering three girls at a dance class, but the sentence sparked criticism from a family involved in the attack and MPs, alongside calls for law changes.

Rudakubana received one of the highest minimum custody terms on record for the attack, at a Taylor Swift-themed class in the Merseyside town in July last year, when he was 17.

He killed Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

On Friday Attorney General Lord Hermer KC said he would not be referring the sentence to the Court of Appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.

In a statement, Lord Hermer said: “The senseless and barbaric murder of three young girls in Southport last summer shocked our nation.

“No words come anywhere close to expressing the brutality and horror in this case.

“It was understandable that we received multiple requests to review the sentence under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, which is designed to identify and remedy gross errors made by judges.

“After careful consideration of independent legal advice and consultation with leading criminal barristers and the Crown Prosecution Service, I have concluded that this case cannot properly be referred to the Court of Appeal.

“No-one would want the families to be put through an unnecessary further court process where there is no realistic legal basis for an increased sentence.

“The 52-year sentence imposed by the judge was the second longest sentence imposed by the courts in English history.

“Rudakubana will likely never be released and will spend the rest of his life in jail.

“The Government have set out the next steps that must now take place to ensure that these awful murders will be a line in the sand.

“My thoughts today are with the friends and families of Bebe, Elsie and Alice, as well as the other victims – your memories will not be forgotten.”

Southport’s MP, Patrick Hurley, previously asked the Attorney General to review the killer’s sentence as “unduly lenient”, saying it is “not severe enough”.

A parent of one of the children who survived the attack, who cannot be named because the victim has been granted anonymity by the court, previously told The Sun that Rudakubana’s crimes were so horrific that he should “rot in jail” and the “law needs changing”.

After the sentencing, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, backed by shadow home secretary Chris Philp, said there was a “strong case” for amending the law to allow for whole-life orders to be imposed on people aged under 18 in some cases, which the Tories “will start to explore”.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said at the time that the “vile offender will likely never be released”.

Rudakubana’s punishment is thought to be the longest imposed on a killer of his age.

He cannot legally receive a whole-life order, a punishment reserved for offenders aged 21 and over or, in rare cases, those aged 18 to 20, because of his age at the time of the attack.

The PA news agency understands the families of the children Rudakubana murdered have been informed of the Attorney General’s decision.

Harrowing evidence of the injuries suffered by the girls during the attack at The Hart Space was read out during a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court, with Bebe suffering a total of 122 sharp force injuries and Elsie being subjected to 85.

Rudakubana, who was born in Cardiff, also admitted possession of a knife, production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

Three separate referrals were made to the Government’s anti-terror programme, Prevent, about Rudakubana’s behaviour in the years before the attack, as well as six separate calls to police.

Last month the Government announced a public inquiry into the stabbings, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves saying the probe would need to establish Prevent’s approach to determining ideology and what it regards as terror.

Unrest erupted across the country in the wake of the attack, with mosques and hotels used for asylum seekers among the locations targeted, after false information spread online which claimed the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK on a small boat.

More than 1,000 arrests linked to disorder across the country have since been made and hundreds of people have been charged and jailed.