The man accused of the Southport attack has changed his plea to guilty to all charges. Axel Rudakubana, 18, was due to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court, however as it began on Monday he changed his pleas - meaning there will be no trial. He will be sentenced on Thursday.
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00:00Axel Rueda Cabana aged 18 from Banks and Lancashire has pled guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to
00:07all 16 counts he was charged with.
00:09They were three charges of murder, 10 charges of attempted murder and one charge of possession
00:15of a knife, all relating to the incident at Hart Street Southport on the 29th of July
00:192024.
00:20Nine-year-old Alastair Silva-Aquia, BB King who was six and Elsie Dot Stancom aged seven
00:27died after being stabbed during a Taylor Swift-themed children's holiday club class
00:32at the Hart Space in Southport.
00:34We've been to the town to get the reaction from locals there.
00:37It's not about him, it's about the victims and it's about the parents of these victims
00:44because these victims are no longer with us and they have to live with that.
00:48So I think the fact he's pleaded guilty is good in one sense but in another sense what
00:55does it actually mean all together?
00:57Well at least he's getting sentenced and the families haven't got to go through all that.
01:03That's all I can, if it was me, I don't think I'd want to, no.
01:09We were shocked when we heard it, you know, that he left it till the last minute but does
01:14say the big, what I was wondering if he gets life for each of the murders, that's what
01:21we were concerned with.
01:23I remember it because I was there pulling flowers down, I went and looked at the people.
01:29Why?
01:30Why?
01:31Why?
01:32Why?
01:33What's he doing?
01:34Three kids, three girls, it's unbelievable.
01:38I think the way the King came, King Charles came and I think even if you're not a royal
01:46or anything like that, I think people respected that.
01:50The community will start to pick up the pieces.
01:52I think the family are going to be going for a long time.
01:57Stand up for Southport campaigner Andrew Brown told us that the guilty plea was unexpected.
02:03I think everybody in Southport was braced for six weeks of a really, what would have
02:06been an incredibly gruesome and traumatic trial.
02:10That's a long time for all the families to have to sit through day after day, week after
02:13week.
02:14I'm glad that they've been spared from that ordeal, which they're recovering from the
02:17ordeal of the tragedy itself.
02:19They don't need to be going through something as awful as that as well.
02:24Ursula Doyle, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor with CPS Mersey Cheshire, said it is clear
02:29that this was a young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence.
02:34He has shown no signs of remorse.
02:36I hope the families will get some of the answers that they want.
02:40But it's all about the families.
02:41It's all about the people affected, the people who are injured, the people who are traumatised
02:44at the scene.
02:45And I hope that everybody's love and compassion will go towards them.
02:49Following his guilty plea, Ruda Cabana was remanded in custody to appear at Liverpool
02:54Crown Court on Thursday 23rd January for sentencing.