The British teenager who murdered three children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party and told authorities that the act of violence made him "so happy" will likely never get out of prison.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty to murdering Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9 at the event in Southport, the New York Post reported. Ten other children were injured in the attack as well as two adults who attempted to stop him.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer told the court during sentencing that one of the murdered girls was stabbed 122 times and another 85 times. She said it was "difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic," the newspaper reported.
Rudakubana also bragged that he was "so happy" after the attack. The newspaper reported that he received 13 life sentences. Since the attack happened when Rudakubana was 17, he still has the opportunity for parole, but must serve at least 52 years.
Rudakubana downloaded an al-Qaeda training document twice since 2021 and used techniques from it in the attack, the BBC reported. He also created the poison ricin.
The BBC reported that Rudakubana's interest in violence had been festering for years. Classmates remembered with figures such as Adolf Hitler and Genghis Khan. He was expelled from high school after admitting to having brought a knife to school on 10 occasions.
After being expelled, he showed up at the high school with a hockey stick, attacked another student, and had to be restrained, the BBC reported. The network also reported on repeated calls to the police by his increasingly concerned parents.
Also, Rudakubana was referred to the UK's anti-terror and anti-extremists program Prevent three times, but no action was taken, The Evening Standard reported. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has promised an inquiry into why action wasn't taken given the many warning signs of trouble.
Rudakubana reportedly had studied wars, genocides, ethnic cleansing, and similar incidents from around the world and appeared to have had a long simmering obsession with violence.
Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy told The Evening Standard "there is no evidence that he ascribed to any particular political or religious ideology. He wasn't fighting for a cause. His only purpose was to kill and he targeted the youngest, most vulnerable in order to spread the greatest level of fear and outrage, which he succeeded in doing."
