Tributes are seen outside the Town Hall in Southport, England, on Aug. 5, 2024, after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club the week before.Darren Staples/The Associated Press
A British teen pleaded guilty Monday to murdering three girls and attempting to kill 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, entered the surprise plea at the start of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges related to possessing the poison ricin and for having an al-Qaeda manual.
The July 29 stabbings led to a week of widespread rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland after the suspect was falsely identified as an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat. He was born in Wales.
Justice Julian Goose told Rudakubana he faces life imprisonment when sentenced Thursday.
Defence lawyer Stanley Reiz said he would present information to the judge about Rudakubana’s mental health that may be relevant to his sentence.
Rudakubana had consistently refused to speak in court and did so once again when asked to identify himself at the start of the proceedings. But he broke his silence when read the 16-count indictment and said “guilty” each time.
None of the surviving victims or family members of those killed were present in court during the guilty plea, the judge noted. They had been expected to arrive for opening statements that were planned for Tuesday.
Goose asked the prosecutor to apologize on his behalf that they were not present to hear Rudakubana plead guilty.
Prosecutors haven’t said what they believe led Rudakubana – who was days shy of his 18th birthday – to commit the atrocities.
He pleaded guilty to murder in the deaths of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6.
Eight other girls, ranging in age from 7 to 13, were wounded, along with instructor Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes, who worked in a business next door and intervened. Fifteen other girls, as young as 5, were at the class but uninjured. Under a court order, none of the surviving girls can be named.
Several months after his arrest on the day of the killings, Rudakubana was charged with additional counts for 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 for having the manual in a document on his computer.
Police said the stabbings weren’t classified as acts of terrorism because the motive wasn’t known.
The attack sent shock waves across the U.K. and inspired violence by groups made up mostly of men who were mobilized by far-right activists on social media to attack mosques and hotels housing migrants. They tossed beer bottles, rocks and other weapons at police, and set fire to cars as they clashed with officers in dozens of cities.
More than 1,200 people were arrested for the disorder and hundreds have been jailed for up to nine years in prison.
