1 of 2 | British police blocked off roads and deployed officers outside Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday as a heavily guarded police motorcade arrived with Axel Rudakubana to be sentenced for the murders of three young girls and the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults in nearby Southport last summer. Photo by Adam Vaughan/EPA-EFE
Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Briton Axel Rudakubana, 18, was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday morning at Liverpool Crown Court for the murders of three young girls and attempted murders of eight other children and two adults in an attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport last summer.
Rudakubana switched his plea to guilty at the last minute on Monday as his trial was due to get underway after previously denying fatally stabbing Bebe King, 6; Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7; and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, and seriously injuring 10 other victims on July 29 with an eight-inch kitchen knife purchased from Amazon.
The teen also admitted to producing the biological poison, ricin, and a single count of possession of terrorist material -- an Al Qaeda military training manual.
High Court judge, Justice Julian Goose, is expected to sentence Rudakubana to life in prison after telling him on Monday the only appropriate punishment was likely to be "a life sentence equivalent."
A life sentence is a minimum specified term before a prisoner becomes eligible to apply for parole.
Perpetrators of crimes of this seriousness who are over the age of 21 would normally receive a Whole Life Sentence in which they are never released and will die in prison.
Legal expert Joshua Rozenberg said the mandatory minimum 30-year term for cases involving two or more murders committed by someone aged 18-21 would be reduced to 27 years because Rudakubana was 17 at the time of the attack -- but aggravating factors, including premeditation and that he targeted vulnerable members of society and attempted to kill 10 others, would push it back up.
Merseyside Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Ursula Doyle has called the attack an unspeakable and "meticulously planned rampage" for which Rudakubana had expressed no remorse.
His guilty plea on the morning of the start of the trial will earn him a maximum discount of one-tenth off of whatever sentence he is ultimately given.
The rules sparked anger among the families of victims with a parent of one child who survived the attack saying the book should be thrown at Rudakubana.
"Why should he be spared a whole-life tariff when he hasn't spared a thought for any of the victims' families? Life should mean life," the unnamed parent told The Independent.
"His crimes are so horrific, an exception should be made by the judge. He's an adult and should be tried like one."
Protesters also gathered outside the court, some holding placards condemning violence against children.
The government announced a public inquiry Monday into whether the tragedy could have been averted after it was revealed numerous opportunities to stop Rudakubana's "meticulously planned rampage" were missed by the police, courts, social services and mental health professionals after he first came to the attention of authorities at the age of 13.
He was also referred to the government's anti-radicalization program, Prevent, but all the agencies "failed to identify the terrible risk and danger to others that he posed," said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
However, the government defended a decision not to go public about the failings until Monday, claiming doing so could have caused the case to collapse.
The Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement ahead of Thursday's hearing that the government had withheld the information on the CPS' advice and that it would lay out in full its reasons in court.
"Public reporting of significant information before the conclusion of the trial, including about the actions of Axel Rudakubana on the day and some elements of his past history would have posed a serious risk to the integrity of the trial and risked undermining justice for the victims and their families," said Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson.
"Delivering justice for the victims and their families was and remains our absolute priority and we could not and would not have been prepared to agree to anything to put that at risk.
"The CPS will present the full case to the court on Thursday. The independence of the judge must be respected. Only he can determine the facts which may inform the sentence handed down," Parkinson added.
"I understand there is frustration at the lack of full and immediate information about such serious crimes, but I hope it will now be understood why that had to be the case."