Axel Rudakubana, who was sentenced to a 52-year minimum for the murder of three young girls at a dance class in Southport, will not have his sentence referred to the court of appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, the attorney general has announced. This decision comes after criticism from the parent of one of the victims and calls for a review of the sentence by Southport MP Patrick Hurley.
Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the attack, cannot receive a whole-life order due to his age. The attack, which took place at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July 2024, also left eight other children injured and resulted in three separate referrals to the Prevent programme, as well as multiple calls to police about Rudakubana’s behavior in the years leading up to the attack.
While the attorney general described the murders as “senseless and barbaric”, he ultimately decided that the case did not meet the criteria for an increased sentence. Despite this decision, there have been calls for the law to be amended to allow for whole-life orders to be imposed on offenders under 18 in certain cases.
The prime minister, Keir Starmer, has stated that Rudakubana will likely never be released, and there are ongoing discussions within the government about potential changes to the law in light of this case. The misspelling of Rudakubana’s name in the government’s anti-terror database has also raised concerns about the effectiveness of these programs in preventing such tragedies.
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