Father of Cardiff-born murderer Axel Rudakubana begged taxi not to take son to old school days before murder

A Cardiff-born teenager with a "sickening interest in death and violence" was stopped from taking a taxi to his former school by his father days before murdering three children. He stabbed three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed party in Southport, and attempted to murder 10 others.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, murdered Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, in the Merseyside town on July 29 last year. The defendant also admitted attempting to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and two adults Leanne Lucas and John Hayes.

The teenager, of Banks, Lancashire, also pleaded guilty to charges of a bladed article in a public place, namely a kitchen knife with a curved blade. He was charged with additional offences of production of a biological toxin, namely ricin, and possession of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, namely a PDF file entitled "Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual", in October.

Rudakubana was due to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court but on Monday he changed his plea to guilty to all the charges on the indictment. He is due to be sentenced at the same court on Thursday.

Following the hearing, it was reported by the Liverpool Echo that Rudakubana had attempted to take a taxi to his former school, Range High School in Formby, on July 22 2024. Sources confirmed to the ECHO that Rudakubana was permanently excluded from the school in October 2019 after he was found with a knife.

It was reported the teen returned to the school with a knife and a hockey stick before attacking a pupil two months later. In the weeks after he was charged with murder sources confirmed to the ECHO about the failed attempt to return to the school.

It was claimed Rudakubana booked the taxi at 12.20pm - just minutes before pupils at the school would have finished for the summer holidays. He used the same fake name, Simon, as he did when he carried out the sickening mass stabbing a week later.

He also wore the same green hooded jumper and surgical mask. The ECHO understands that on July 22, Rudakubana’s dad Alphonse ran out of the house and pleaded with the taxi driver to not take his son.

Following an argument, Rudakubana got out of the car and went back into the house. When Rudakubana left his house a week later to carry out the atrocity on Hart Street he left the house before the taxi arrived and waited for it further down his road.

It is understood Rudakubana attended two specialists schools, The Acorns School in Lancashire and Presfield High School & Specialist College in Southport following his expulsion, and teachers were concerned about his behaviour. His in-person attendance at Presfield was less than 1%, it is understood.

After taking a taxi to the street, Rudakubana entered the building and started grabbing children and stabbing them. He moved “systematically through the room” stabbing the terrified children who tried to flee while brave adults including Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes ran to help.

Rudakubana was arrested on suspicion of murder at 12.02pm after he was detained by officers at the scene. Rudakubana was charged with murder and attempted murder in the days after the incident. He was further charged in October 2024 with production of ricin and possession of the military study of the Al-Quada training manual. Although he was charged under the Terrorism Act in relation to the latter, the mass stabbing was not declared a terrorist incident as “motivation would need to be established”.

However, an official document seen by the ECHO stated Rudakubana was referred to Prevent - a multi-agency taskforce spearheaded by Counter Terrorism Policing tasked with preventing vulnerable people from being drawn into criminal behaviour - on three separate occasions. The ECHO understands one of the referrals came after he was found to have researched terror attacks.