Teen accused of Southport stabbings charged with terrorism offence

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The teenager accused of killing three girls at a dance class in north-west England earlier this year has been charged with possessing terrorist material and production of a deadly poison.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, is to appear via video link in court in central London on Wednesday on charges of possessing an “al-Qaeda training manual” and of production of the deadly toxin ricin.

Rudakubana had already been charged with the murder of three young girls following stabbings at the Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport in July.

The attack shocked the country and triggered a string of violent protests across the country.

Reporting restrictions on identifying Rudakubana, who was aged 17 at the time of the attack, were lifted in early August.

The judge at Liverpool Crown Court said at the time this was to prevent the spread of misinformation after speculation spread online that the attacker was a recently arrived illegal immigrant. Rudakubana was born in Cardiff to parents who emigrated from Rwanda.

Merseyside Police said on Tuesday that the additional charges followed searches of his home address as part of a “lengthy and complex” investigation.

Rudakubana has been charged under terrorism legislation of allegedly possessing an electronic document entitled “Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The al-Qaeda Training Manual”.

However, Merseyside chief constable Serena Kennedy said that police had not declared the attack to have been a “terrorist incident”.

She said that for a matter to be declared a terrorist incident, motivation would need to be established, whereas charges can nevertheless be brought under the Terrorism Act without a motive being established.

“You may have seen speculation online that the police are deciding to keep things from the public,” Kennedy said. “This is certainly not the case.”

Testing of a substance found at Rudakubana’s home in Banks, Lancashire, established that it was ricin, the force said. Kennedy added that there was a “low to very low risk” to the public, and that no ricin had been present at the venue where the attack occurred.