On 29 July 2024, a mass stabbing targeting young girls occurred at the Hart Space, a dance studio in the Meols Cop area of Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom. Axel Rudakubana killed three young girls and inflicted life-altering injuries on ten others at a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport in July 2024. The victims were Bebe King (6), Elsie Dot Stancombe (7), and Alice da Silva Aguiar (9). Two girls died at the scene, six injured children and two adults were taken to hospital in a critical condition, and a third girl died the following day.
Axel Rudakubana was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murders in January last year, along with other charges. Rudakubana was charged with three counts of murder, ten counts of attempted murder, and possession of a bladed article. He was later separately charged under the Biological Weapons Act 1974 and Terrorism Act 2000 in relation to the possession of ricin and a military study of an Al-Qaeda training manual. Rudakubana pleaded guilty to all 16 charges on 20 January 2025, when his trial was due to begin, having initially entered a not-guilty plea. No motive for the stabbings was identified; the prosecution suggested that the motivation could have been the commission of mass murder as an end in itself and no evidence of terrorism was found.
An inquiry chaired by Sir Adrian Fulford found that the attack could have been - and should have been - prevented. The inquiry found that if the full extent of the family's concerns about Axel had been shared with authorities in late July 2024, the tragedy would almost certainly have been prevented. The inquiry's first major report detailed how the Southport attack would have been prevented if Axel Rudakubana's parents told the authorities what they knew about the killer. According to Sir Adrian Fulford, it was highly likely the murders would not have happened if agencies had properly managed the risk the teenager posed.
Axel Rudakubana's parents, Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muyazire/Muyzaire, knew he was hoarding weapons including machetes for at least a year before the attack and did not report it, according to the inquiry. The parents saw weapons and suspicious substances (ingredients for ricin) in his bedroom and found packaging for a knife on the day of the attack but reported none of this. The parents feared Axel would be taken into care if they reported him, which is why they didn't raise the alarm, multiple reports indicate. The report found that the perpetrator's parents created significant obstructions to constructive engagement.
The inquiry listed five major areas of systemic failure: absence of risk ownership, failures in information sharing, misunderstanding of autism, lack of oversight of online activity, and significant parental failures. Agencies wrongly attributed Axel Rudakubana's conduct to his autism spectrum disorder, leading to inaction. Axel Rudakubana had been referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme three times. Prevent refused to escalate concerns because Rudakubana did not present a coherent ideology like jihadism or right-wing extremism.
After Rudakubana's guilty pleas, it emerged that he had a history of violent and concerning behaviour and had been referred to the Home Office anti-extremism programme Prevent three times between 2019 and 2021, but was not accepted into the scheme as no terrorist ideology was identified. In 2022, Rudakubana went missing and was found with a knife on a bus, admitting he wanted to stab someone. Axel Rudakubana downloaded an Al-Qaeda training manual and had unsupervised access to disturbing online material.
The Hart Space, where the attack occurred, was a community studio venue on Hart Street in Meols Cop, Southport, about a mile east of the town centre. The Hart Space hosted yoga, dance, pregnancy, and baby and toddler classes. The workshop was organised by yoga teacher Leanne Lucas and Heidi Liddle. Leanne Lucas announced the class in an Instagram post on 7 July, advertised as a yoga, dance, and bracelet-making workshop themed around the music of Taylor Swift. The workshop was aimed at children in Year 2 to Year 6 (ages 6–11), and was being held in the first whole week of the summer holidays, scheduled for 29 July between 10:00 and 12:00 BST. The event was sold-out by 18 July, with 26 children booked onto the workshop.
Shortly before 11:45, Axel Rudakubana arrived at Hart Street by taxi, which he had booked under the false name 'Simon'. Rudakubana, then 17, also tried to murder eight other children, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes at The Hart Space in Southport. The attack's immediate aftermath saw emergency services responding to a scene of carnage, with multiple victims requiring urgent medical attention.
The day after the attack, rioters clashed with police in Southport and damaged a mosque after misinformation about the attacker's identity – which had not yet been publicly released – was spread online. Over the next few days, mass anti-immigration protests and riots spread nationwide. These disturbances highlighted how misinformation can fuel social unrest following traumatic events.
The Rudakubana family left their home in Banks, Merseyside, nearly two years ago and have not returned. The parents left the area on the day Axel was arrested and never returned. Some families on the Rudakubanas' street left the area because they were too upset after the attack, according to a local. This displacement reflects the profound community trauma caused by the attack.
Merseyside Police investigated the parents but confirmed there was not enough evidence to prosecute. The investigation examined whether parental negligence contributed to the tragedy, but legal thresholds for prosecution were not met. This outcome has left some questioning whether accountability extends sufficiently beyond the perpetrator himself.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said legislation will be brought forward to deal with those planning attacks without an underlying ideology. Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to overhaul terrorism laws to include non-ideological acts of violence, and appointed David Anderson to lead a review of the Prevent programme. According to Shabana Mahmood, the perpetrator slipped through the cracks and no agency took responsibility for him, and she is working across government to ensure that cannot happen in the future.
The inquiry report is 760-763 pages long, containing extensive analysis of the failures that preceded the attack. It includes numerous findings about institutional shortcomings and personal responsibility. The report's length underscores the complexity of the case and the depth of investigation required to understand how such a tragedy occurred.
Unresolved questions remain about the exact motive behind Axel Rudakubana's attack, given that no evidence of terrorism was found. The current legal status or whereabouts of Axel Rudakubana's parents, Alphonse Rudakubana and Laetitia Muyazire/Muyzaire, also remains unclear. These unknowns continue to haunt the community and the victims' families seeking closure.
Further unknowns include what specific disciplinary actions, if any, have been taken against individuals at the public bodies identified in the inquiry. What specific changes have been made to information-sharing practices among agencies since the attack also remains to be fully detailed. According to Shabana Mahmood, there has already been a change in practice on the sharing of information, but the extent of these reforms is not yet publicly documented. The detailed contents of the 67 recommendations in the inquiry report, and which have been implemented so far, represent another area where transparency is still developing.