The family of the Southport attacker have been moved to a “secret location” by police for their own protection, leaders at the church his father attended say.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, yesterday pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder for fatally stabbing Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and injuring 10 others at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club on 29 July last year.
Leaders of The Community Church in Southport, where Rudakubana’s father Alphonse was a “valued part” of the congregation, released a statement addressing previous speculation about him after his son’s plea.
In it, they describe the family as “devastated” and claim “they have been moved by the police, for their protection, from their home in Banks [Lancashire] to a secret location that we are unaware of”.
Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice Dasilva Aguiar and Bebe King.
Pic: Merseyside Police
Police and forensic investigators at the scene of the Southport attack on 29 July 2024. Pic: PA
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In the aftermath of the stabbings in Southport last summer, disinformation around Rudakubana’s identity falsely claimed he was Muslim and an asylum seeker.
Addressing speculation after his guilty plea lifted reporting restrictions, church leaders Dave Gregg, Geoff Grice, Harry Pickett, and Mike Rothwell said: “Axel was born and went to school in the United Kingdom, he has autism and has struggled with mental health issues.
“Prior to the major incident in Southport, he had been living with his parents in the village of Banks near Southport.
Rioting broke out in Southport after the fatal stabbing of three girls. Pic: PA
“There has been the inevitable speculation about his family and background – with his father Alphonse being named in the national press. It has also been reported that his parents are both Christians and attend a local church.
“To prevent unnecessary intrusion into other churches in our town, we can confirm that over the last few years, Alphonse Rudakubana has been a valued part of The Community Church family.”
They added that Mr Rudakubana’s son and family “never attended our Sunday gatherings, nor played any active part in church life”.
The statement concluded by describing the deaths of the three young girls as a “tragedy”.
It added: “The subsequent outpouring of love and support by the local community actually reflects the true nature and spirit of our town, but sadly, this was eclipsed by the appalling attack – fuelled by fake racially motivated news on social media – on the local mosque, which resulted in so many awful injuries to police and damage being caused to buildings and property.”
Axel Rudakubana
Attacker’s history of violence
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Tuesday that the UK faced a “new threat” of attackers such as Rudakubana, who he described as “loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety, sometimes inspired by traditional terrorist groups, but fixated on that extreme violence seeming only for its own sake”.
He appointed a new independent commissioner for the UK’s anti-extremism scheme Prevent.
After his guilty plea, it emerged Rudakubana was referred to the Prevent scheme three times in the 17 months before the attack over concerns about his fixation with violence – but he was eventually deemed not to require any intervention.
The teenager, who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, was expelled from the school in 2019 over claims he was carrying a knife after telling Childline he was being racially bullied and brought the knife to protect himself.
It is understood that, after his exclusion, he returned to the school to target a former bully or someone he had a grievance with and assaulted someone with a hockey stick.
Rudakubana then attended two specialist schools, where teachers were concerned about his behaviour.