Axel Rudakubana is the man who murdered three little girls at a dance class in Southport in the United Kingdom. Today, 21 September 2026, he was back in court. He is 20. He appeared by video link from Broadmoor psychiatric hospital. Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard new charges from when he was locked up at Belmarsh prison. He did not enter a plea. His next hearing is at the Old Bailey on 19 October. He stays in custody.
The original crime was 29 July 2024. Axel Rudakubana was 17. He walked into a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport with a knife and stabbed children. Bebe King was six, Elsie Dot Stancombe was seven, Alice da Silva Aguiar was nine. All three died. He also tried to kill eight other children and two adults. He later admitted the murders, the attempted murders, having a knife, making ricin (poison), and a terrorism charge. In January 2025 he got life sentence with a 52 year minimum. The judge could not give him a whole life tariff because he was still a minor when he did it. He is not coming out any time soon.
The new case is about what Axel Rudakubana did inside Belmarsh in 2025. On 6 May he is accused of threatening a female officer and throwing liquid at her through the hatch when she would not give him a newspaper. On 8 May he allegedly boiled water, mixed sugar into it so it would cling and burn, and threw that mix at officer Andrew Kemmish. Staff treated him quickly and he did not end up with lasting injuries.
On 28 October 2025 he is accused of punching another officer in the face after they tried to check if he had taken his pills. In June they found sharpened bits of stone he had pulled from the cell floor and hidden under a shelf. After the boiling water attack he said the officers were poisoning his food. He was later moved to Broadmoor. The girls’ families said that move looked like him gaming the system.
His parents are Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire. They are from Rwanda. They came to Britain in 2002 after the 1994 genocide. Reports have linked his father to the Rwandan Patriotic Army. Axel Rudakubana was born in Cardiff in 2006. The family later settled near Southport.
The Southport Inquiry report in April 2026 said the dance class attack should never have happened. The inquiry said his parents blocked professionals, covered for him, did not put limits on him, let weapons arrive at the house, and stayed quiet in the days before the attack because they did not want him taken away.
Alphonse later admitted he was scared of his own son. The boy had beaten him and once told him he would kill him. Alphonse said he accepted some of the blame. Police did not charge the parents, and Axel's family went into hiding after the murders.
Stay away from crime. Attacking children or prison officers wrecks lives and ends in a cell. If you are in trouble or you know someone who is about to hurt people, call the police or your local authorities. In Britain that is 999 if it is an emergency and 101 if it is not. Ask for help before someone gets attaked.