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When Axel Rudakubana got into a taxi in summer last year, the country had no clue of the horrors he was about to unleash on the town of Southport – and the resulting backlash which would spread across the UK in the following weeks.
The then 17-year-old travelled by taxi to the Hart Space, where he ambushed a class of children aged between six and 11 who were starting their summer holidays at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Merseyside.
The frenzied attack, launched at around 11.50am on 29 July, was described as like a scene from a disaster film when he targeted the girls while a teacher and a grandfather nearby bravely tried to defend the screaming children.
Two of the girls, Bebe King, aged six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged seven, were declared dead shortly after, while Alice Dasilva Aguiar, aged nine, later succumbed to her injuries in hospital.
Eight more children suffered stab wounds and five were left in a critical condition.
On Monday, the violence-obsessed teen pleaded guilty to murdering the girls. He had been due to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court, having denied the charges last year, but dramatically changed his plea on the first day of the trial.
He also pleaded guilty to 10 charges of attempted murder, as well as producing the deadly poison ricin and possession of a pdf file containing Al-Qaeda material found by police.
However, officials maintain the incident – which sparked a string of far-right riots and civil unrest across the country – is not being classed as a terror attack because he was not inspired by any terrorist ideology.
Rudukabana’s youngest victim Bebe died after attending what had been advertised as a fun morning of making bracelets, dancing to Taylor Swift and yoga.
Speaking of their heartbreak, her devastated parents said: “No words can describe the devastation that has hit our family as try to deal with the loss of our little girl Bebe.”
The family of Elsie Dot said she was a “devoted Swiftie” who loved dancing and cheerleading.
“Elsie spent every day just simply enjoying life with determination, persistence, love and kindness,” they said.
“Elsie was an amazing little girl. She had the ability to light up any room that she entered, she was truly unforgettable.”
In a eulogy read as hundreds of mourners gathered at Alice’s funeral, the nine-year-old’s parents questioned if she had called out for them in her final moments.
“We wonder if you ever thought of us, called for us, we wonder if you felt any pain,” they said. “We hope not my darling.”
They said they would “never get over this pain” but promised to “get all the answers” about what happened.
Within hours of the tragedy, a violent protest erupted outside a mosque in Southport as misinformation about the teenage attacker’s identity spread online.
The unrest soon spread with far-right riots breaking out across the country. More than 1,000 have been arrested and hundreds charged over the unrest, which included a bid to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers.
A judge later lifted reporting restrictions allowing the press to name the suspect due to his age to stop misinformation from continuing to be spread “in a vacuum”.
Rudakubana, now 18, was born to Rwandan parents in Cardiff before they moved to Banks, Lancashire.
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