The Southport killer, Axel Rudakubana, will not have his 52-year minimum sentence for the murder of three young girls at a dance class referred to the court of appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, according to the attorney general. The sentence, the second-longest in English history, prompted criticism from the MP and the parent of a survivor, who called for Rudakubana to “rot in jail” and for changes to the law. Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the attack, killed three girls and attempted to murder several others in a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in 2024. The attorney general described the murders as “senseless and barbaric” but determined that there was no legal basis for an increased sentence.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and shadow home secretary Chris Philp supported amending the law to allow for whole-life orders for offenders under 18 in some cases. Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that the “vile offender” is unlikely to ever be released. Three referrals were made to the anti-terror programme, Prevent, about Rudakubana’s behavior before the attack, as well as six calls to the police. It was revealed that a misspelling of Rudakubana’s name in the government’s database for potential terrorists may have hindered his assessment as a potential mass murderer. The attorney general concluded that there was no legal basis for referring Rudakubana’s sentence to the court of appeal, in order to spare the families of the victims from an unnecessary further court process.
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