Taylor Swift dance party mass knife attack suspect Axel Muganwa Rudakubana has been further charged with two new offences relating to materials allegedly found at his home after the Southport attack that left three young girls dead, including biological weapon ricin and an Al-Qaeda “training manual”.
18-year-old Axel Muganwa Rudakubana will appear by video link at Westminster Magistrate’s Court, facing fresh terrorism and bio-weapon charges in addition to those previously made against him for murder, attempted murder, and possession of a knife. Rudakubana was arrested in July shortly after a knifeman attacked a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in Southport, near Liverpool, where three young girls were killed and ten other people were stabbed.
The victims were six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar.
Merseyside police said the new charges against Rudakubana followed “evidence obtained by Merseyside Police during searches of Axel Rudakubana’s home address, as part of the lengthy and complex investigation”. The first charge is “Production of a biological toxin, namely ricin, contrary to Section 1 of the Biological Weapons Act 1974”, and the second is “Possessing… a pdf file entitled “Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual”… contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.”
Ricin is a poison from castor beans, present in the waste of processed beans. A briefing on bioterrorism from the U.S. Center for Disease Control states:
It would take a deliberate act to make ricin and use it to poison people… If made into a partially purified material or refined into a terrorist or warfare agent, ricin could be used to expose people through the air, food, or water… ricin has possibly been used as a warfare agent in the 1980s in Iraq and more recently by terrorist organizations.
An official from the government’s UK Health Security Agency moved to assure the public that there was no risk from the ricin found, stating there was no risk of exposure to any victims of the Southport attack, or first responders, or the wider public. Ricin was only found at the property, not the site of the Southport attack. They said: “Our detailed initial risk assessment judged that the risk to the community and to the wider public was low. ”
While Rudakubana has now been charged with a terrorism offence, Merseyside Police were insistent this did not imply the Southport attack itself, which he is the police’s only named suspect for, was actually a terrorist attack. They said: “At this time, Counter Terrorism Policing has not declared the attack on Monday 29 July a terrorist incident. I recognise that the new charges, may lead to speculation. The matter for which Axel Rudakubana has been charged with under the Terrorism Act does not require motive to be established. For a matter to be declared a terrorist incident, motivation would need to be established.”
Responding to speculation and criticism in the press and elsewhere, the force further said: “We are also committed to being open and transparent with our communities. However, I am sure you will all appreciate that we need to make sure we do not prejudice any trial… You may have seen speculation online that the police are deciding to keep things from the public. This is certainly not the case.”
Nevertheless, candidate to be the next leader of the Conservative Party Robert Jenrick questioned whether police were being too circumspect, Criminal Prosecution Service advice or not. He said on Tuesday afternoon: “This atrocity was of immense public concern. The public had a right to know the truth straight away.
“Any suggestion of a cover-up will permanently damage public trust in whether we’re being told the truth about crime in our country. Keir Starmer must urgently explain to the country what he knew about the Southport attack and when he learned it.”
Nigel Farage, who had come under immense criticism for earlier discussing the circumstances around the attack reflected: “The Southport attacker has now been charged with Terrorism offences. Perhaps I was right all along.”
The announcement of fresh charges comes days after Rudakubana’s originally announced day in court was delayed without explanation. After a court appearance tomorrow, the case is due to begin before a Crown Court in January 2025.
