Southport girls' killer charged with attacking prison staff

LONDON, July 31 - A British teenager serving life in prison for the murders of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in 2024 has been charged with multiple assaults on prison staff, police said on Friday.

Axel Rudakubana, then 17, launched a frenzied knife attack in northern England's Southport on July 29, 2024, killing Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine.

Rudakubana also wounded 10 others in the attack, which was followed by days of nationwide rioting. He was jailed for a minimum of 52 years after he admitted the killings shortly before trial last year.

Rudakubana, now 19, has been charged with attempted grievous bodily harm relating to an incident in May 2025 and assault on an emergency worker two days earlier, the Metropolitan Police said.

He is also charged with possession of an offensive weapon in prison and assault on an emergency worker and will appear at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on September 11.

Rudakubana was recently moved from prison to the Broadmoor top security psychiatric hospital, which was described by the three girls' families as an attempt "to manipulate the system". REUTERS