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Tuesday February 11, 2025

UK teen pleads guilty to girls’ murder that triggered riots

By AFP
January 21, 2025
Axel Rudakubana, 18, who admitted killing three young girls in Southport last year. —AFP/File
Axel Rudakubana, 18, who admitted killing three young girls in Southport last year. —AFP/File

LIVERPOOL: A teenager on Monday pleaded guilty to the “unspeakable” killing of three young girls in a stabbing spree last year that sparked the UK´s most violent riots in a decade.

On what was set to be the opening day of his trial, Axel Rudakubana, 18, admitted murdering the three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, northwest England. The July stabbings sent shockwaves across the UK, triggering unrest and riots in more than a dozen English and Northern Irish towns and cities, including in Southport and Liverpool. Authorities blamed far-right agitators for fuelling the violence, including by sharing misinformation claiming the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker. In fact, Rudakubana was born in Cardiff in Wales to parents of Rwandan origin, and lived in Banks, a village northeast of Southport.