Axel Rudakubana: Inside the courtroom where grieving families refused to be overcome by killers antics [Video]

Inside Liverpool Crown Court, a tense silence descended as victim’s families gathered in the public gallery, anxiously waiting for Southport killer Axel Rudakubana to enter the dock.

The sentencing hearing, scheduled for 11am, had already started late as police, legal teams, families and journalists had made their way through enhanced security amid heightened tensions over the shocking case.

Every seat was taken, with some choosing to sit in parts of the public gallery with no view of the dock. A piece of frosted glass obscured any chance of catching even a fleeting glimpse of the remorseless killer, described by his own lawyer as having a “total lack of empathy”.

Others, including the grief-stricken …