DOWNLOAD THE FREE LiSTNR APP
Southport attacker CCTV footage.

Southport attacker jailed for 52 years for murder of three girls 

A teenager who stabbed and killed three young girls at a Taylor Swift themed dance class in the UK last July has been sentenced to 52 years in prison.  
 
Eighteen-year-old Axel Rudakubana is responsible for the deaths of six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar.

Hear more from today’s headlines on this episode of The Briefing, Australia’s fastest-growing news podcast:

He was also sentenced over the attempted murder of ten others. The judge said she couldn’t impose a life sentence as he was seventeen at the time.  

The judge explained while technically eligible for parole after fifty two years, he is unlikely to ever be released.

During the trial, CCTV footage showed the attacker entering the dance studio in Southport in England’s North West. 
 
Footage shows him armed with a large kitchen knife, lunging at a group of children making friendship bracelets and singing Taylor Swift songs on their first day of summer break.  

RELATED:   Ricky Ponting Reveals The Man He Considers The “Best Cricketer That’s Ever Played”

The attack shocked the country, triggering nationwide anti-immigrant riots seized upon by the country’s far-right. There were incorrect reports that he was an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in the U.K. 
 
Rudakubana was born in Cardiff Wales to Christian parents from Rwanda.  
 
He was known to police for his history of violence long before the July attack and had been referred to the country’s anti-extremist program three times.  

Prosecutors say he researched atrocities committed by others and “set out to emulate them”, and before he left home, he searched social media for a video of the stabbing of Sydney bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, which had taken place months earlier. 

Subscribe to The Briefing, Australia’s fastest-growing news podcast on Listnr today. The Briefing serves up the latest news headlines and a deep dive into a topic affecting you. All in under 20 minutes.