Southport girls' killer charged with attacking prison staff


FILE PHOTO: Southport murder suspect Axel Rudakubana appears via video link at the Westminster Magistrates' Court charged with production of the deadly poison ricin and a terrorism offence, in London, Britain, October 30, 2024, in this courtroom sketch. Courtesy of Julia Quenzler/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) - ⁠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".

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Sarah Young)

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