Southport killer Axel Rudakubana is due to appear in court on Monday, September 21, over three new charges linked to alleged incidents involving prison staff while he was being held at Belmarsh.
Rudakubana, now 20, is already serving a life sentence for the murders of three young girls — nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, six-year-old Bebe King and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe. He was also convicted of attempting to murder eight other children and two adults.
The horrific attack happened on July 29, 2024, during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport. The killings shocked the country and left families and the wider community devastated.
Rudakubana is now facing further legal action over separate incidents that are alleged to have happened while he was in prison.
According to court documents, he has been charged with attempting to cause grievous bodily harm following an alleged incident in May 2025. He also faces a charge of assaulting an emergency worker over another alleged incident in October 2025.
A third charge relates to the alleged possession of an offensive weapon inside prison in June 2025. Court documents reportedly describe the alleged weapon as pieces or shards of stone.
One of the most serious allegations relates to an incident involving a prison officer. It is alleged that Rudakubana poured boiling water from a kettle over the officer in May 2025. The allegation will now form part of the latest court proceedings against him.
Rudakubana is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court by video link on Monday rather than attending the courtroom in person.
His appearance comes after the Ministry of Justice confirmed in July that he had been transferred from prison to Broadmoor, a high-security psychiatric hospital in Berkshire.
Prisoners can be transferred to secure psychiatric hospitals when medical professionals decide that they are suffering from a mental disorder that requires hospital treatment and that their needs cannot safely or appropriately be managed within an ordinary prison environment.
Once transferred to a secure hospital, the individual is treated as a patient and receives specialist psychiatric care. However, being moved to hospital does not remove or cancel an existing prison sentence.
Patients in secure hospitals can be required to take part in treatment and therapy while medical professionals continue to assess their condition. If doctors later decide that hospital treatment is no longer required, the law allows for the person to be transferred back to prison where appropriate.
Broadmoor is one of the UK’s three high-security psychiatric hospitals and is the oldest of them. Over the years, it has treated a number of well-known offenders, including Ronnie Kray and serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, who became known as the Yorkshire Ripper.
Transfers of prisoners requiring psychiatric treatment are governed by the Mental Health Act and involve clinical assessments. Where the legal requirements for a transfer are met, a prisoner can be moved from the prison system into a secure hospital for treatment.
Despite his transfer to Broadmoor, Rudakubana still faces the new criminal proceedings connected with the alleged incidents at Belmarsh. The three charges will now begin moving through the court process, with Monday’s appearance expected to deal with the next legal steps in the case.
