Southport ‘Attacker’ Charged With Having Al-Qaeda Manual And Making Ricin

Axel Rudakubana, 18, who is alleged to have carried out knife attack in July, has been charged with an offence under the Terrorism Act.

The teenager accused of carrying out the Southport attack has been charged with possessing al-Qaeda material and producing ricin.

Axel Rudakubana, accused of the knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July, is alleged to have made ricin – a biological toxin – and kept materials related to the terrorist group.

On Tuesday, Downing Street denied a cover-up despite the details emerging three months after the attack. Rumours that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker motivated by terrorism sparked riots over the summer, with thousands arrested and dozens jailed.

Rudakubana, who is 18 but was 17 at the time of the attack, is charged with the murders of Bebe King, aged six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine.

He is also charged with the attempted murder of Leanne Lucas, the class instructor, businessman John Hayes and eight children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and with possession of a knife.

Police said the al-Qaeda material was found during a search of Rudakubana’s house. It was a PDF entitled Military studies in the jihad against the tyrants: The al-Qaeda training manual.

The document includes a translation of a manual produced by the terrorist group, which offers advice on urban warfare and terrorism along with instructions to operatives on how to establish cells and what to say if they are arrested.

The ricin was found in a search of Rudakubana’s home in early August, but health officials said the risk to the public and emergency workers was low.

Asked about the suggestion that facts had been withheld from the public, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “That’s not correct. Charging decisions are independently made by the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service], and I would point you to the CPS’s statements and statements from the police. It’s for them to speak to those decisions.”

Both Conservative leadership contenders questioned whether there had been a cover-up over the new charges.

Robert Jenrick said: “As the dad of three daughters, the Southport attacks hit me personally. Of course the legal process needs to be respected, but I am seriously concerned that facts may have been withheld from the public here.

“The Government and authorities told us for months they were not treating this as a terrorist incident. But today the attacker has been charged with a terrorist offence, and it’s been revealed that he’d allegedly been reading al-Qaeda manuals.

“This atrocity was of immense public concern. Any suggestion of a cover-up will permanently damage public trust in whether we’re being told the truth about crime in our country. Keir Starmer must urgently explain to the country what he knew about the Southport attack and when he learned it.
“Across the board, the hard reality of mass migration is being covered up. We need the truth, and we need to change.”

Kemi Badenoch, his Tory leadership rival, said there were “serious questions to be asked of the police, the CPS and also of Keir Starmer’s response to the whole situation”.

Posting on X, formerly Twitter, she wrote: “Parliament is the right place for this to happen. While we must abide by the rules of contempt of court and not prejudice this case, it is important that there is appropriate scrutiny.”

At a press conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, Merseyside Police said the events of July 29 have not been declared a terrorist incident because no motive has been established. At the time of the attack, the force also said the events were not being treated as terror-related.

The day after the attack, Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, told the Commons that Merseyside Police was being assisted by specialist counter-terror officers.

It is understood that police forces have been instructed to make sure they have back-up provisions in place this week to prepare for potential unrest in the wake of the announcement of the new charges.

There is not thought to be any intelligence to suggest further unrest is likely, but forces have been told to make sure they have the necessary resources available.

After the attack and the subsequent riots, Ms Cooper said she had long been concerned that “not enough” was being done to “counter extremism, including both Islamist extremism and far-Right extremism”.

She ordered a rapid review of extremism “to ensure we have the strongest possible response to poisonous ideologies that corrode community cohesion and fray the fabric of our democracy”.

Ahead of the new charges, the National Police Chiefs’ Council said 1,590 people had been arrested in connection with the riots that followed the stabbings. There have been a total of 1,015 charges, while 572 people remain on bail. Inquiries to find 216 wanted people continue.

Police sources said they believed the substantial sentences handed out would help prevent further rioting.

For an act to formally be treated as terrorism by UK authorities, it must meet a series of legal tests drawn up more than two decades ago and laid out in the Terrorism Act 2000.

The law states that the incident must involve the use or threat of serious violence, or serious damage to property, be designed to influence the government, to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and be for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.

While the first two hurdles are swiftly cleared in cases involving bombings, stabbings and mass violence, the need to prove that an attack is designed to further a wider cause is currently proving increasingly difficult.

Ms Cooper warned against speculation after the new charges were announced, saying: “The most important thing is to get justice for Bebe, Alice and Elsie and their heartbroken families, and all those affected by the attack, and nobody should put that at risk.”

Born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, Rudakubana’s identity was revealed after a judge lifted a reporting restriction following an application made by the press.

He had been due to appear in court last Friday, but that hearing, relating to the murder charges, was moved to Nov 13. He will now also appear at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday in relation to the new charges.