A teen pleaded guilty Monday to charges of killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, entered the surprise plea at the start of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court. He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges related to possessing the poison ricin and for having an al-Qaeda manual.
The July 29 stabbings led to a week of rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland after the suspect was falsely identified as an asylum seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat. He was born in Wales.
A judge said Rudakubana faces life imprisonment when sentenced Thursday.
Defence lawyer Stanley Reiz said he would present information to the judge about Rudakubana’s mental health that may be relevant to his sentence.
Rudakubana had refused to speak in court and once again refused to identify himself at the start of the proceedings.
Prosecutors haven’t said what they believe led to the rampage, which resulted in the deaths of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6.
Misidentified as a migrant
The stabbings triggered a week of rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland after Rudakubana — then unnamed — was falsely identified as a recent asylum seeker. Violent groups made up mostly of men who were mobilized by far-right activists on social media attacked mosques and hotels housing migrants, tossed beer bottles, rocks and other weapons at police, and set fire to cars as they clashed with officers in dozens of cities.
More than 1,200 people were arrested for the disorder and hundreds have been jailed for up to nine years in prison.
The U.K. government wants social media companies to do more to stop the spread of disinformation after it was spread on platforms like X and sparked violent protests.
Eight other girls, ranging in age from 7 to 13, were wounded in the attack, along with instructor Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes, who worked in a business next door and intervened. Fifteen other girls, as young as five, were at the class but uninjured.
Several months after his arrest on the day of the killings, Rudakubana was charged with additional counts for production of a biological toxin, ricin and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism for having the manual in a document on his computer.
Police have said the stabbings haven’t been classified as acts of terrorism because the motive isn’t yet known.
