Southport killer’s prison monitoring ‘downgraded before alleged attack’

Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana’s supervision was downgraded before an alleged attack on a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh, according to reports.

The 18-year-old allegedly used a kettle in his cell to heat water up and then poured boiling water over the officer on Thursday, the PA news agency understands.

The prison officer was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure, did not require further treatment and was discharged later that evening, it is understood.

They are expected to return to work next week.

Rudakubana was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January for the murders of three girls and attempted murders of eight other children, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

The 18-year-old murdered Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and injured 10 others during the attack at the Taylor Swift-themed workshop in the town on July 29 last year.

It is being reported in The Sun that Rudakubana’s prison supervision was downgraded in recent weeks as he was previously in a healthcare unit being monitored round the clock.

A Prison Service spokesperson said on Friday: “Police are investigating an attack on a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh yesterday.

“Violence in prison will not be tolerated and we will always push for the strongest possible punishment for attacks on our hardworking staff.”

Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers Association (POA), told The Sun: “Why are we giving people like Rudakubana the same privileges and freedoms as other inmates? It makes no sense.

“We have to base everything on risk and don’t give access to things with which they can attack staff.

“We have to have super-max security units, based on the American system, for inmates like him. Prisoners like this are not going to reform or rehabilitate.”

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick posted a video on X in which he said: “Since when did the right of a sick criminal to make a cup of tea come before the safety of a prison officer?

“On Thursday, we’re told, the Southport killer, Axel Rudakubana, attacked a prison officer with boiling water. The officer was hospitalised. My thoughts are with him and his family.

“This wasn’t an isolated case. For weeks, I have warned about the safety of prison officers in some of our highest security prisons.

“Just a few weeks ago, one of the terrorists behind the Manchester arena bombing attacked prison officers with a makeshift weapon and boiling oil, which he’d somehow managed to get hold of despite being in a supposed segregation centre in a top security prison.

“Well enough is enough. We must never put the rights of criminals and terrorists above the safety of prison officers. Labour’s Justice Secretary needs to get a grip or else I fear it is only a matter of time before a prison officer loses their life.”

The number of assaults on staff in adult prisons in England and Wales per year has reached its highest level in a decade, according to data from the Ministry of Justice.

Some 10,605 assaults on staff in male and female jails were recorded in 2024, up from 9,204 in 2023 and nearly three times the 3,640 in 2014.

Four guards were attacked with hot oil and homemade weapons by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi at HMP Frankland in County Durham in April, with the inmate transferred to Belmarsh after the incident.

In response to the rise in attacks, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood previously announced that the use of tasers will be trialled in prisons and confirmed the Prison Service will conduct a “snap review” of the use of protective body armour for prison officers.