Southport Murder Suspect Faces New Terror Charge

An 18-year-old individual, accused of murdering three girls in Southport, has appeared in court in connection with a terror charge. Axel Rudakubana, who attended Westminster Magistrates’ Court via videolink, is charged with the manufacture of the toxic poison ricin. He also faces an accusation of possessing a PDF file considered potentially useful for committing or preparing an act of terrorism. Mr Rudakubana held his grey tracksuit top over the lower half of his face and did not respond when asked to confirm his name. A security officer present with him at Belmarsh Prison, where the defendant is being held, informed the court that he had chosen not to speak. Stan Reiz KC, the defence lawyer, stated: “Mr Rudakubana has remained silent at previous hearings as well,” adding that “for reasons of his own he has chosen not to answer the question.” Mr Rudakubana, from the village of Banks in Lancashire, has already been charged with the murders of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, following the attacks in Southport on 29 July. He additionally faces charges on ten counts of attempted murder and possession of a knife after the stabbings. Eight of the alleged attempted murders pertain to attacks on children who cannot be identified for legal reasons, while the remaining two allegations concern alleged attacks on yoga teacher Leanne Lucas and another adult, John Hayes. Chief Magistrate, district judge Paul Goldspring, remanded the defendant in custody on the new charges during the brief hearing, which lasted less than ten minutes. Judge Goldspring referred the case to Liverpool Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing scheduled for 13 November, to be addressed alongside the other charges. Prosecutors introduced the terrorism and poison charges following the police’s continuing investigation into the suspect. These charges include the production of a biological toxin, contrary to Section 1 of the Biological Weapons Act 1974, and the possession of a PDF document of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The PDF file was not an Al-Qaeda document but rather a military study of a manual made by the Islamist terror organisation.