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When teenager Axel Rudakubana went on a killing spree in the seaside town of Southport last July, he not only destroyed the lives of his victims and their families, but also sent shockwaves through British society.
Received an 18-year-old on Thursday 52 years jail term For the killing of three little girls and the maiming of 10 others, an atrocity that followed a wave of online chaos and anti-immigration riots across England.
When the full details of Rudakubana’s disturbing history were revealed this week, they sparked a fierce debate about the UK’s approach to justice, as well as the state’s understanding of modern terrorism.
Rudakuban was arrested at the scene of last July’s killing spree at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, standing over the body of a child with a kitchen knife still in hand.
Police released few details in the days and weeks that followed. False claims that the attacker was an illegal immigrant began circulating online.
Violent race riots followed and authorities were later accused of a cover-up, particularly by the British political right.
It is a claim that police, prosecutors and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, himself a senior lawyer and former head of the Crown Prosecution Service, have repeatedly denied.
“If this trial had fallen apart because I or anyone else had disclosed important details during the police investigation — while the case was being built, while we were awaiting the verdict — then the criminal who committed these crimes would have walked away a free man,” Starmer said Tuesday.
Starmer’s position, and that of prosecutors, is based on British contempt of court laws dating back to the early 1980s, which limit what information can be disclosed before a trial to prevent jury suppression.
But barrister Jonathan Hall Casey, who is currently reviewing terrorism laws for the government, called the state’s interpretation of contempt laws in Southport’s case “ultra cautious”.
He told the Financial Times the police had safely revealed Rudkubana’s age, race, nationality, his birthplace in Cardiff and the fact that he had a Rwandan Christian background.
Naming him would have been more complicated, because he was 17 at the time, but Hall said prosecutors could and should have applied for a court order to do so.
“Imagine if [police] A clear, calm, authoritative, honest, transparent statement on Twitter [now X] Early on,” he said.
“Some people will certainly believe the worst or conspiracy theories, but most people are just looking for information.”
Hall said, ironically, the state’s silence could have been counterproductive in the trial, as the jury could have had the prerogatives on their minds instead.
The judiciary would do well to “refine” the understanding of “prejudicial” now in a social media age, he said, as courts reviewed decades-old contempt laws.
The case has also sparked debate about the country’s understanding and response to acts of terrorism.
Within days of the Southport murder, police discovered that Rudqubana was in possession of an al-Qaeda training manual.
Prosecutors would later argue that it was used to plan the attack. He made the deadly poison ricin in his bedroom before storing it in a plastic box under his bed.
But while he was charged with possession of terror-related material, he was not charged with committing acts of terrorism. Even police working on the investigation said they initially struggled to understand why.
“I say: is this not terrorism now, is this not terrorism now, is this not terrorism now?” Senior investigating officer Jason Pye, Detective Chief Inspector of Meerside Police, recalled his conversations with prosecutors as the evidence emerged.
He said a terrorism charge would also have made his investigation more straightforward. Rudakuban could have been detained for seven days under the Terrorism Act.
Apart from this, the police had a maximum of 72 hours to put their case together and collect medical evidence related to the 13 victims.
“It absolutely meant we had more time to do more,” said Pai of the terror charges.
According to prosecutors, the absolute material found on Rudakubana’s 43 devices – his lack of explanation for his actions in interviews – meant he could not be charged under the Terrorism Act 2000.
It defines terrorism as “the intent to advance a political, religious or ideological cause”. It was later updated to include racial norms.
Among the more than 164,000 seized documents were violent material relating to Nazism, Gaza, Grozny and Iraq, as well as footage. Attack on Bishop Mar Marie Emmanuel Australia last April.
“He was not fighting for any reason,” prosecutor Dena Heer said Thursday. “His only intention was to kill.”
Starmer said this week that he understood “why people wonder what the word ‘terrorism’ means”.
“And so, if the law needs to change to recognize this new and dangerous threat, we will change it — and quickly,” he added.
Yet Hall, who is now reviewing the law for Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, said she was “skeptical” of widening the terrorism definition.
Casting the net more widely, he said, could bring in individuals such as football hooligans or organized criminals.
Rudakubana’s case has also prompted questions about how Britain’s existing counter-extremism agencies are equipped to deal with young people fixated on violence.
In 2022, aged 15, he told Lancashire police that he had thought about poisoning people and producing poison for that purpose, which he later did. The force said it would not comment further pending a public inquiry.
Rudakubana was also mentioned for the government’s anti-resistance program three times between 2019 and 2021.
He was first mentioned at age 13, when his school researched school shootings online.
He was subsequently flagged for posting on Instagram about former Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi, in April 2021 he was said to be investigating the 2017 London Bridge terrorist attack on schools.
On each occasion, the case resisted dismissal, pointing out that there was no coherent ideology behind his actions. He has not been a subject of interest to the counter-terrorism police.
Speaking before the sentencing, Vicky Evans, senior national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism policing, said the program had not caught up with the new generation of extremists at the time of her referrals.
“Partnership prevention response to increasing fixation with extreme violence evolved, but it was less developed than it is today,” he said.
“While progress has been made to help address this challenge,” he added, “it’s fair to ask questions about what more needs to be done.”
