Southport killer transferred to Broadmoor as families warn of anniversary retraumatisation
Axel Rudakubana, 19, was moved from Belmarsh prison to the high-security psychiatric hospital days before the second anniversary of the murders. Victims’ families say the timing is calculated and fear a pattern of retraumatisation.
Axel Rudakubana, the teenager given a life sentence for murdering three young girls and attempting to murder eight other children and two adults at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, has been transferred from Belmarsh prison to Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital. The Ministry of Justice confirmed the move on 24 July 2026, six days before the second anniversary of the attack on 29 July 2024. The department stressed the transfer does not alter his 52-year minimum term.
Families informed without explanation
Chris Walker, the lawyer representing the three bereaved families, told BBC Breakfast the decision was communicated by letter on 22 July with no details on why the transfer happened.
With the vacuum of information, the concern is that he's manipulating the situation to his own benefit. For it to come out the week before the anniversary seems coincidental to us.
Walker said he saw a developing pattern of behaviour aimed at causing fresh distress.
It's a deep concern of mine that this is a pattern starting to develop by him trying to retraumatise the families from his cell, and it's a deep concern that this is going to occur every anniversary.
He added there was "no suggestion" Rudakubana was suffering from psychosis when he carried out the murders. Sally Jameson, a junior housing minister and former prison officer, said on Friday that Rudakubana would be returned to prison "as soon as possible" but she was not familiar with the reasons behind the move.
A mother's promise to her surviving daughter
Jenni Stancombe, whose seven-year-old daughter Elsie Dot Stancombe was killed, said she and her husband were determined not to let the killer damage the childhood of their younger daughter.
He took one away from me. I will not give him the satisfaction of ruining another.
Stancombe, speaking on Giovanna Fletcher's Happy Mum podcast, described how her surviving daughter continues to attend dance classes and loves cheerleading.
Me and Day both committed to that, that we have to try and give her as normal life as possible.
History of manipulating medical staff
The Telegraph reported on 24 July that Rudakubana has a lengthy history of trying to "control and manipulate" medical professionals. Alder Hey children's NHS foundation trust had previously confirmed he was under its care as a mental health patient between 2019 and 2023, when he "stopped engaging". He was referred after taking a knife to school and later saying he had done so "to use it". The transfer to Broadmoor was made after the conclusion that he could not be managed safely in a standard prison environment.
- Attack at Taylor Swift-themed dance class; three girls killed, eight children and two adults injured.
- Bereaved families informed by letter of Rudakubana's transfer to Broadmoor.
- Ministry of Justice confirms Rudakubana moved from Belmarsh to Broadmoor hospital.
- Second anniversary of the attack approaches.
Approaching anniversary
The attack on 29 July 2024 was followed by largely far-right riots that spread across the country. Next Wednesday marks two years since the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven. The families' lawyer said the lack of information about the hospital move deepened the sense of injury as the anniversary approaches.
