International law stops whole-life sentence for Rudakubana, minister says

Axel Rudakubana did not get a whole-life sentence because international law has prevented it, a Cabinet minister has suggested.

Defence Secretary John Healey suggested a UN convention on children’s rights stops Britain from being able to impose unlimited sentences on under-18s.

Rudakubana could not be given a whole-life sentence because he was 17 at the time he murdered three girls at a dance class in Southport in July last year.

Though he will likely die behind bars after being jailed for 52 years, critics have claimed the punishment is not severe enough.

Asked about calls to change the law so others like the Southport killer could be sent down for their whole lives, Mr Healey told Sky News: “There are limits on international, United Nations law that prevent us having a court system that will impose unlimited sentences on under-18-year-olds.

“But in practice, I can’t see this man ever coming out of prison, I don’t want to see this man ever coming out of prison, and the judge yesterday when he sentenced him to 52 years was also quite clear he doesn’t expect him to come out of prison in the future.”

The UN Convention on the Rights of a Child says governments which have signed it should ensure that “neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age”.

The Defence Secretary declined to rule out changing the law to extend whole-life sentences to killers aged under 18.

“We owe it to those victims to consider and then deliver the changes that their memories deserve,” Mr Healey told Times Radio.

He added: “The Prime Minister has made it clear that nothing is off the table.”

Rudakubana received one of the highest minimum custody terms on record for the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed class in The Hart Space in Southport last summer.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were killed and harrowing details of the attack were heard at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday.

Rudakubana also attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

The 18-year-old was not present to hear Mr Justice Goose impose a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years, as the court was told he was likely to be “disruptive”.

Southport’s Labour MP Patrick Hurley said the sentence was “not severe enough” and he asked the Attorney General to review it as “unduly lenient”.

He added: “We need a sentence that represents the severity of this crime that has terrorised the victims and their families.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, backed by shadow home secretary Chris Philp, said there was a “strong case” for amending the law to allow for whole-life orders to be imposed on people aged under 18 in some cases, which the Tories “will start to explore”.

Reform UK MPs Rupert Lowe and Lee Anderson called for the return of the death penalty – the minimum age for which was raised to 18 in 1933, before it was abolished in 1969.

Ministers have no plans to bring back capital punishment, Downing Street said, citing Parliament consistently voting against it being restored in recent decades.

A No 10 spokesman also told reporters they hoped the public inquiry into the Southport stabbings will move “as quickly as time allows”.

Timetables and terms of reference will be set out once the Government has consulted the coroner and given families the opportunity to comment, he said.

Rudakubana, who was born in Cardiff, also admitted possession of a knife, production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

On Thursday, he was removed from the dock in Liverpool Crown Court after he started shouting as prosecutor Deanna Heer KC began to lay out the facts of the case.

The Government plans to change the law so criminals are forced to attend their their sentencing hearings, but if defendants are “purposefully disruptive” or “offensive” during proceedings then their attendance may not be appropriate, according to Downing Street.

The details of the injuries suffered by the girls were read to the court, with Bebe suffering a total of 122 sharp force injuries and Elsie being subjected to 85.

Ms Heer said the injuries suffered by the Southport murder victims were “difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature”.

After the attack Rudakubana told police “I’m so glad those kids are dead, it makes me happy”, the court heard.

Following the Southport attack, unrest spread nationwide, with mosques and asylum seeker hotels targeted.

More than 1,000 arrests linked to disorder across the country have since been made and hundreds of people have been charged and jailed.

The PA news agency understands Rudakubana will be held in a high-security adult men’s jail, as he has been for most of the time while on remand since he turned 18.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) came under fire from crime journalists as the Southport case unfolded, as it advised police forces against sharing more information about Rudakubana at an earlier stage.

Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley defended the CPS, telling broadcaster LBC: “There are countries where contempt of court laws are nowhere near this and you’re able to talk more freely, but in our legal system, if the police or CPS had said loads more there is a risk you would have undermined the trial.”

However, he welcomed plans to review contempt of court laws in the social media age, so “more information can be shared earlier”.

The classmates of the schoolgirls who died in the Southport dance class stabbings continue to be supported, their headteachers have said, as they issued tributes following Rudakubana’s sentencing.

One of the three headteachers described how the community had “been left numb by this tragic incident”.