Teen accused of Southport murders facing terror charge

The teenager accused of murdering three young girls in Southport has been charged with producing the poison ricin and possessing a military study of an al-Qaeda training manual.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, has been charged with production of a biological toxin contrary to Section 1 of the Biological Weapons Act 1974.

He has also been charged with possessing a PDF document of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing to or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

For an act to formally be treated as terrorism by UK authorities, it must meet a series of legal tests drawn up more than two decades ago and laid out in the Terrorism Act 2000.

The law states that the incident must involve the use or threat of serious violence, or serious damage to property, be designed to influence the government, to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and be for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.

While the first two hurdles are swiftly cleared in cases involving bombings, stabbings and mass violence, the need to prove that an attack is designed to further a wider cause is currently proving increasingly difficult.

The accused will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

Chief Constable Chief Constable Serena Kennedy has today, Tuesday 29 October, made the following statement in relation to the case of Axel Muganwa Rudakubana:

“Today the Crown Prosecution Service has authorised Axel Rudakubana, aged 18, from Banks in Lancashire, to be charged with two further offences.

“Axel Rudakubana already faces three charges of murder, 10 charges of attempted murder and one charge of possession of a knife – all relating to the incident at Hart Street, Southport on 29 July 2024.

“The two further offences relate to evidence obtained by Merseyside Police during searches of Axel Rudakubana’s home address, as part of the lengthy and complex investigation that followed the events of 29 July 2024.

The additional charges are:

1. Production of a biological toxin, namely ricin, contrary to Section 1 of the Biological Weapons Act 1974.
2. Possessing information, namely a pdf file entitled “Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual” 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.

“Rudakubana will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court via video link tomorrow.

“Following the announcement of the further charges today I wanted to reassure the public of Southport, and Merseyside, that we are committed to achieving justice for the families of Bebe, Elsie and Alice, the 10 victims who were injured at the Hart Space in Southport on that Monday, in July, and the other 16 people who were present.

“We are also committed to being open and transparent with our communities.  However, I am sure you will all appreciate that we need to make sure we do not prejudice any trial.

“You may have seen speculation online that the police are deciding to keep things from the public.  This is certainly not the case.

“We have been given extensive guidance by the CPS in relation to what we can say publicly to ensure the integrity of the court proceedings are protected, and therefore we are restricted in what we can share with you now, whilst the proceedings are live.

“Following the events of Monday 29 July, searches of Axel Rudakubana’s home address resulted in an unknown substance being found – testing confirmed the substance was ricin. . .  I can also tell you that there was no ricin present at Hart Street.

At this time, Counter Terrorism Policing has not declared the attack on Monday 29 July a terrorist incident.  I recognise that the new charges, may lead to speculation.  The matter for which Axel Rudakubana has been charged with under the Terrorism Act does not require motive to be established. For a matter to be declared a terrorist incident, motivation would need to be established.

“We would strongly advise caution against anyone speculating as to motivation in this case. The criminal proceedings against Axel Rudakubana are live and he has a right to a fair trial.

“It is extremely important that there is no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings. I want to remind everyone that a trial is scheduled for January next year.

Axel Rudakubana was due in court last week for a plea and preparation hearing. When this didn’t take place many of us wondered what the authorities were up to. To quote the Guido Fawkers order-order blog  on 25th October

“The highly emotive killings of young girls at a Taylor Swift dance party sparked rioting over suspicions that it was a terror motivated incident. The authorities went to great lengths to disabuse the public of this notion in carefully phrased language which cast doubt on that possibility. No doubt with the intention of calming public concern.

After four months police investigators and prosecutors must surely have compiled their case, so why is the hearing not going ahead? This will give rise to the suspicion in some quarters that it’s because the authorities having carefully misdirected the media and the public and are now panicking about how and when to reveal ‘inconvenient facts’ which will cast the fury and the riots in a very different light.”

That was prescient. As I have read remarked on X tonight, the police searched his house the very day of the murders so at the time of the unrest they knew that what the public, rioters or not, feared, ie a terrorist attack, was actually true, but they clamped down on concern and imprisoned those who spoke regardless. 

Since July 29, police have made a total of 1,590 arrests and brought a total number of 1,015 charges, according to the National Police Chiefs Council.