Southport killer Axel Rudakubana moved to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital | News UK

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been deemed unable to be managed safely in Belmarsh prison and has been transferred to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.

The killer who hunted down and killed three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class will serve the rest of his 52-year sentence at the notorious hospital, which has held Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper and Charles Bronson.

The move to Broadmoor high security hospital from the category A prison Belmarsh will cost £300,000 a year compared to £60,000 amid fearsRudakubana was ‘playing the system’ so he could move to a more comfortable environment.

Offenders who present an increased risk, and cannot be managed safely in a prison environment because of mental disorders, can be moved to secure psychiatric units.

People in these units are treated as patients rather than prisoners.

The MOJ spokesperson said: ‘The families of those murdered and injured in Southport will be in this country’s heart forever and our thoughts remain with them.

‘Any decision to transfer an offender is made following an independent, clinical assessment, under the Mental Health Act. Following rigorous security checks, the offender has been transferred to a high-security psychiatric unit, where he will remain until assessed fit to return to prison.

‘Officials have approved this transfer, on behalf of Ministers. This transfer does not change his sentence – which remains at 52 years – and of which he will serve every single day.’

Rudakubana, now 19, was given a life sentence for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine; Bebe King, six; and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults.

In May last year, while at HMP Belmarsh, Rudakubana allegedly attacked a prison officer with boiling water using a kettle in his cell.

Broadmoor, in Berkshire, is the oldest of the UK’s three high-security hospitals and has held some of the UK’s most high-profile criminals, including Ronnie Kray and serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, also known as the Yorkshire Ripper.

Under the Mental Health Act, officials acting for the Justice Secretary have no choice but to accept the advice of clinical professionals to transfer prisoners to a secure facility.

Mark Fairhurst, of the POA union which represents prison and psychiatric hospital workers, told The Guardian: ‘[Rudakubana] is not mentally unwell. He is playing the system and is nothing more than evil. He should spend his entire sentence in solitary confinement staring at four walls.

‘It is appalling to think that he will now enjoy all the freedoms a secure hospital is forced to give him and even more unjustified is the taxpayer actually paying him benefits because he is now classed as mentally unwell.

‘It is POA members who will now have to carry out the wishes of those who think he can be cured. This is a sickening development and my thoughts are with the families of the victims and all those who have been affected by his atrocious crime.’

An offender in a secure hospital will be compelled to engage with treatment and to undertake therapies before any return to prison or release into the community.

Where offenders no longer require treatment in hospital, the Act allows a swift return to prison.

MORE: Southport taxi driver who waited 50 minutes before calling 999 has licence revoked