Axel Rudakubana’s next court appearance over Southport stabbings postponed

 Axel Rudakubana the Muslim convert who is charged with the murder of 3 small girls, attempted murder of 8 more small girls and  terrorism offences including production of ricin poison was due in court yesterday. As predicted by those of us following the case this (plea) hearing did not take place. From the biggest local newspapers the Liverpool Echo and the Manchester Evening News

Axel Rudakubana’s next court appearance in relation to the Southport stabbings, set for today, has been postponed. The 18-year-old, of Banks in West Lancashire, had been set to face a plea hearing at Liverpool Crown Court this morning, Thursday, December 12.

It was expected the 18-year-old, from Banks in West Lancashire, would enter a plea at the hearing.

Rudakubana is further charged with attempting to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and two adults, Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, who were also stabbed during the incident.

The teenager also faces a count of possession of a bladed article in a public place, namely a kitchen knife with a curved blade, with a trial date having previously been scheduled for January 25 next year. He was charged with additional offences of production of a biological toxin, namely ricin, and possession of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, namely a PDF file entitled “Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual”, in October. . . Counter Terrorism Policing have not declared the mass stabbing a terrorist incident.

Rudakubana has so far made four court appearances before Liverpool Magistrates’ Court, Liverpool Crown Court and Westminster Magistrates’ Court. He has not spoken to confirm his identity during any of these hearings.

His case was initially listed to take place before Mr Justice Goose from 10am today, with the defendant due to appear via video link from Belmarsh prison. However, the ECHO understands that the hearing will now instead take place on a date next week.

We wait with bated breath. We KNOW there is so much more to this. Why no photographs of Rudakudana as an adult? Every other defendant has his custody ‘mugshot’ plastered across this newspapers. Why is he allowed to cover his face in court when that would have been dealt with as a ‘contempt in the face of the court’ when I was a Crown Court clerk? What is his father’s status re the Rwandan genocide and Keir Starmur’s involvment with obtaining sanctuary for pepetrators of the genocde in the UK. 

Update – next date believed to be Wednesday 18th December