All the chilling signs Axel Rudakubana would go on to kill – from attacking pupils with a hockey stick aged 13 to murdering three girls and harming eight others at Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport [Video]

08:05 EST 20 Jan 2025, updated 09:25 EST 20 Jan 2025 By and RICHARD MARSDEN and TOM COTTERILL and REBECCA CAMBER

Axel Rudakubana‘s terrifying and deadly knife rampage was not the first time he had launched a violent assault on young children, it can now be revealed.

Rudakubana, of Banks, Lancashire, was due to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court from today charged with 16 offences, including three counts of murder.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died following the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class at The Hart Space on a small business park in the seaside town shortly before midday on July 29, 2024. 

The defendant – aged 17 at the time of the attack – admitted the girls’ murders as well as the attempted murder of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

He also pleaded guilty …