2024 mass murder in North West England
On 29 July 2024, a mass stabbing targeting young girls occurred at the Hart Space, a dance studio in the Meols Cop area of Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom. Seventeen-year-old Axel Rudakubana killed three children and injured ten others at a Taylor Swift–themed yoga and dance workshop attended by 26 children. Two girls died at the scene, six injured children and two adults were taken to hospital in a critical condition, and a third girl died the following day. 
The day after the attack, rioters clashed with police in Southport and damaged a mosque after misinformation about the attacker's identity – which had not yet been publicly released – was spread online. Over the next few days, protests and riots spread nationwide.
Rudakubana was arrested at the scene and charged with three counts of murder, ten counts of attempted murder, and possession of a bladed article. He was later separately charged under the Biological Weapons Act 1974 and Terrorism Act 2000 in relation to the possession of ricin and a military study of an Al-Qaeda training manual. He pleaded guilty to all 16 charges on 20 January 2025, when his trial was due to begin, having initially entered a not-guilty plea. On 23 January 2025, Rudakubana was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 52 years. No motive for the stabbings was identified; the prosecution suggested that the motivation could have been "the commission of mass murder as an end in itself" and no evidence of terrorism was found.
After Rudakubana's guilty pleas, it emerged that he had a history of violent and concerning behaviour and had been referred to the anti-extremism programme Prevent three times between 2019 and 2021, but was not accepted into the scheme as no terrorist ideology was identified. Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to overhaul terrorism laws to include non-ideological acts of violence, and appointed David Anderson to lead a review of the Prevent programme.
Background.
Location of the Hart Space within SouthportThe Hart Space, where the attack occurred, was a community studio venue on Hart Street in Meols Cop, Southport, about a mile east of the town centre. It hosted yoga, dance, pregnancy, and baby and toddler classes. It was on the first floor of Norwood Business Park, a building which it shared with an office on the ground floor.
The workshop was organised by yoga teacher Leanne Lucas and Heidi Liddle. Lucas announced the class in an Instagram post on 7 July, advertised as a yoga, dance, and bracelet making workshop themed around the music of Taylor Swift. The workshop was aimed at children in Year 2 to Year 6 (ages 6–11), and was being held in the first whole week of the summer holidays, scheduled for 29 July between 10:00 and 12:00 BST. The event was sold-out by 18 July, with 26 children booked onto the workshop.
Attack.
Shortly before 11:45, Axel Rudakubana arrived at Hart Street by taxi, which he had booked under the false name 'Simon'. He asked the driver to direct him to 34A Hart Street, then left the vehicle without paying the fare and began walking down the alley towards the Hart Space.
Wearing a surgical mask and green hoodie and armed with a kitchen knife, Rudakubana entered the building at 11:45 through the front door, which was unlocked for fire safety reasons, and walked up the flight of stairs to the studio. Lucas did not initially realise Rudakubana was armed, and thought he was there to collect a child.
Rudakubana began stabbing children at random, moving "quickly" throughout the room while remaining silent. Lucas only realised he was attacking the children when he moved on to her and stabbed her in the back five times. Lucas and Liddle tried to shield children from Rudakubana; Lucas ushered some children out of the venue via a fire exit while Liddle hid a child in a bathroom. Lucas called 999 and sent others down the main stairs into the car park, telling them to run away once outside. One girl was pulled back inside and stabbed by Rudakubana while attempting to leave the building; she collapsed outside but survived. Merseyside Police received the first emergency call at 11:47, and emergency services were dispatched. North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) received their first call a minute later.
Jonathan Hayes, who was working in an office in the same building, ran into the studio after hearing screams and encountered Rudakubana on the landing, crouching over the body of a child. Hayes retreated but Rudakubana followed him into his office and swiped at him. Hayes attempted to disarm Rudakubana but was stabbed in the leg and fell to the ground.
Members of the public helped those who had escaped from the building. Marcin Tyjon and Joel Verite were on Hart Street when they encountered a group of children, as well as Lucas, who was covered in blood and screaming that someone was stabbing children inside the building. Tyjon administered CPR to Alice da Silva Aguiar, while Verite ran to the building and saw Rudakubana holding the knife.
The first police officer on scene arrived at 11:57. After backup arrived, an officer with a taser entered the studio with Verite. They encountered Rudakubana standing over King's body, still holding the knife. After being ordered to drop the knife, Rudakubana co-operated and was arrested by two officers while Verite carried King's body outside.
Emergency services quickly declared a major incident as armed response vehicles, thirteen ambulances, the fire service, and three air ambulances – one each from North West Air Ambulance, Midlands Air Ambulance, and Great North Air Ambulance – were dispatched to the scene. Specialist hazardous area response and medical emergency response incident units also responded. Merseyside Police imposed an Emergency Restriction of Flying to stop aircraft – including helicopters and drones – from flying without permission.
Victims.
Six-year-old Bebe King and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe died at the scene, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar died in hospital the following day. Nine children and two adults were treated for injuries by NWAS. Six of the nine children and both adults – Lucas and Hayes – were in a critical condition following the stabbings.
Casualties were taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, which declared a major incident, as well as Aintree University Hospital, Southport and Formby District General Hospital, Ormskirk District General Hospital, and Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. The three girls who were killed in the attack were named on 30 July.
The last injured child to be discharged from hospital went home on 8 August, ten days after the stabbing. On 15 August, a family friend reported that Lucas had been readmitted to hospital due to breathing issues. She underwent lung surgery before being discharged again in late August.
Perpetrator.
Axel Muganwa Rudakubana was born on 7 August 2006 in Cardiff, Wales, to Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muzayire, who are Christians originally from Rwanda, and who moved to the UK in 2002. Rudakubana is a British citizen, and has an older brother. The family lived in the Thornhill area of Cardiff before moving to the Southport area in 2013, settling in Banks, a large village on the north-eastern outskirts of Southport. Neighbours described Rudakubana as quiet and unassuming, with some saying they "very rarely" saw him.
Rudakubana was involved in acting and drama; he was part of a musical theatre group and took acting classes at the Pauline Quirke Academy. In 2018, aged 11, he was featured in a BBC "Children in Need" promotional video dressed as the Tenth Doctor. Following the attack and subsequent revealing of Rudakubana's identity, the BBC removed the advert featuring him from its platforms. Ology Kids Casting, who cast him for the advert, also deleted all references to him from their social media.
Secondary schooling and concerns raised.
Rudakubana attended Range High School in Formby from 2017. He first became known to officials in 2019, initially due to anxiety and social isolation but then due to increasing concerns over his behaviour. On 4 October 2019, aged 13 and in Year 9, he contacted Childline and asked "what should I do if I want to kill somebody?" and in the following days, explained he wanted to kill someone who was bullying him at school. The incident was referred to the police, who visited him shortly afterwards. Rudakubana had been temporarily excluded from school by this point, and he was expelled after he disclosed that he had taken a knife to school on about 10 occasions.
From 17 October 2019, Rudakubana attended The Acorns School in Ormskirk, a specialist education centre. During his admission meeting, Rudakubana was asked why he had taken a knife into his previous school, to which he replied "to use it." In November 2019, Rudakubana was referred to the anti-extremism Prevent scheme for researching school shootings during an IT class – the first of what would eventually be three referrals over the following eighteen months.
On 11 December 2019, Rudakubana booked a taxi to take him back to Range High, where he threatened pupils and teachers with a hockey stick on which he had written their names. He struck one pupil with the hockey stick, breaking their wrist. When the police arrived, a knife was found in Rudakubana's backpack. In February 2020 he was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possession of an offensive weapon, and possession of a bladed article. A referral order was imposed. Following this incident, The Acorns School refused to have Rudakubana on their premises, and instead sent him schoolwork to complete at home, which he failed to do. He returned to school in July 2020 under a two-to-one supervision, but stopped attending again in May 2021, following reports of incidents at home.
Rudakubana was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in February 2021. He was referred to Prevent twice more in early 2021; once in February for uploading two images of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to Instagram, and again in April after a teacher noticed he had left two internet tabs open researching the London Bridge terror attacks on a school computer during a lesson. Police were involved with Rudakubana multiple times over the following year due to various incidents: once in November 2021, where Rudakubana kicked his father and damaged his car in an argument; in March 2022, where his mother reporting him missing before a bus driver called the police on him for failing to pay his fare; and again in May 2022 in an argument where Rudakubana was denied access to his computer. From September 2022, he was enrolled for sixth form at Presfield High School &amp; Specialist College in Churchtown, mostly via home visits by staff, who were sometimes accompanied by the police.
On 22 July 2024, one week before the Southport attack, Rudakubana used a pseudonym to book a taxi to take him to Range High School, minutes before the school broke-up for the summer holidays. He was wearing the same outfit – a green hoodie and a surgical mask – that he would wear to the Hart Space attack a week later. However, his father spotted him and pleaded with the taxi driver not to take Rudakubana to his former school. After a discussion with his father, he returned to the house. The prosecution later assessed that the circumstances were "unlikely to be a coincidence" and that Rudakubana had originally planned an attack at Range High School but the attempt was foiled by his father.
Post-attack.
Rudakubana was arrested at the scene of the attack on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. On 31 July, Rudakubana was charged with three counts of murder, ten counts of attempted murder, and one count of possession of a bladed article. In England and Wales reporting restrictions in place at the time of the attack prevented the public disclosure of the identity of a suspect aged under 18 (unless or until authorised by a court). His identity was therefore initially protected, but reporting restrictions were later lifted on 1 August by Liverpool Crown Court, citing concerns over the lack of confirmed identity fuelling misinformation and riots. The recorder overturning the restrictions stated that continuing to prevent reporting of Rudakubana's name risked more unrest when he turned 18 on 7 August and his identity would have become publicly available.
Merseyside Police did not identify a motive at the time, and on the day of the attack they