Southport killer’s sentence to be reviewed amid calls for law changes

The Southport killer’s record-high 52-year sentence will be reviewed amid criticism it was not long enough after mounting calls for law changes to see child criminals like him die in jail.

Axel Rudakubana was handed one of the highest minimum custody terms on record after carrying out the sadistic attack at a Taylor Swift-themed class in July last year at the age of 17.

The punishment is thought to be the longest imposed on a killer of his age.

Now 18, he admitted the murders when he appeared in court earlier this week as well as the attempted murders of eight other children who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

Rudakubana also pleaded guilty to having a knife, which he had bought on Amazon, on the date of the killings, production of the deadly poison ricin, and possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

Southport’s Labour MP Patrick Hurley said the sentence was “not severe enough” and he had asked the Attorney General to review the sentence as “unduly lenient”, adding: “We need a sentence that represents the severity of this crime that has terrorised the victims and their families.”

Within minutes of Rudakubana being jailed, the Attorney General’s Office said the case had been referred under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, which requires just one request in order for punishments handed out in court to be reconsidered.

Attorney General Lord Hermer and Solicitor General Lucy Rigby have 28 days to decide whether to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal.

There is a high threshold for successful referrals under the scheme. The sentence must be deemed to be not just lenient but unduly so, for example if the judge has made an error or imposed a sentence outside the usual range associated with the circumstances of an offence.

Even then, the Court of Appeal may decide to refuse to review the case, or uphold the existing sentence.

Because Rudakubana carried out the crimes just nine days short of his 18th birthday, it means by law he cannot be sentenced to a whole life order which means he would never be released from jail. This tariff can only be imposed on criminals aged 21 or over and is considered for those aged 18 to 20 in exceptional circumstances.

Describing the minimum term as “substantial”, Mr Justice Goose, sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, said he will serve “almost the whole of his life in custody”, adding: “I consider at this time that it is likely that he will never be released and that he will be in custody for all his life.”

His words were echoed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer who said afterwards that the “vile offender will likely never be released”.

The judge also said he “must accept” that the prosecution had made it clear the attack did not meet the legal definition of an act of terrorism because there was no evidence of attempting to advance a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.

Instead he said he was satisfied that “for some time” Rudakubana had planned to kill as many people as he could in a “mass killing” and added that his “culpability is equivalent in its seriousness to terrorist murders, whatever his purpose”.

A parent of one of the children who survived the attack, who cannot be named because the victim has been granted anonymity by the court, told The Sun the crimes were so horrific the killer should “rot in jail” and the “law needs changing”.

“Life should mean life.

“He’s an adult and should be tried like one,” the man said.

Mr Hurley supported demands for a law change as did Tory leader Kemi Badenoch who – backed by shadow home secretary Chris Philp – said there was a “strong case” for amending the law to allow for whole life orders to be imposed on people aged under 18 in some cases, which the Conservatives “will start to explore”.

“His age means he has not been given a whole-life sentence, despite the countless lives he destroyed on that dreadful day, and the legacy of mistrust he has sown across the country”, she said.

Downing Street declined to comment when earlier asked about changing the law so whole life orders covers child criminals.

Reform UK MPs Rupert Lowe and Lee Anderson called for the return of the death penalty – the minimum age for which was raised to 18 in 1933.

Mr Lowe said it was “time for a national debate” on the use of capital punishment “in exceptional circumstances” while Mr Anderson posted a picture of a noose on his X account, adding: “No apologies here. This is what is required!”

Rudakubana’s punishment is the equivalent of a life sentence handed to an adult because of his murder conviction and severity of his crimes but some of the terminology used in court is different for child offenders.

Regardless of this, he will still have to serve the minimum term of his sentence and will be subject to a review by the Parole Board before he could ever be considered for release.

Taking into account the 175 days Rudakubana has already served on remand, the court heard this meant he will be required to serve 51 years and 190 days before this can happen.

The PA news agency understands he will be held in a high-security adult men’s jail, as he has been for most of the time while on remand since he turned 18.

Even if he was released from prison, he would still remain under supervision on licence for the rest of his life – as do all murderers.

Manchester Arena bomber Hashem Abedi, 23, was handed a record-breaking 55-year minimum term in 2020 for 22 murders and attempted killings. The terrorist orchestrated the 2017 atrocity when he was 20.

Prior to that, the longest minimum term imposed on a terrorist in Britain is believed to have been 50 years in the case of David Copeland.

The 22-year-old was given six life sentences for targeting Brick Lane, Soho and Brixton in 1999 in a 13-day nail bombing campaign that left three people dead and 139 injured.