The suspect in the Southport murders was today charged with making the deadly poison ricin.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, has also been charged with having a study of a terrorist manual after one was found at his home, police said.
The teenager is accused of murdering three young girls – Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine – in a stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in July. He is also accused of ten attempted murders and possession of a knife.
The killings sparked large scale riots, fuelled by misinformation on social media, in towns and cities across the UK.
Today Serena Kennedy, the Chief Constable of Merseyside police, said the Crown Prosecution Service had authorised them to charge Rudakubana with manufacturing the biological toxin ricin and having a study of a terrorist manual – namely Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual.
Today Serena Kennedy, the Chief Constable of Merseyside police, said the Crown Prosecution Service had authorised them to charge Rudakubana with manufacturing the biological toxin ricin
Axel Rudakubana, 18, has also been charged with having a study of a terrorist manual after one was found at his home, police said
Ms Kennedy stressed that the risk to the public and emergency services who responded to the attack on July 29 was ‘low or very low’ and that no one had been contaminated or harmed as a consequence.
She also said that, although Rudakubana has been charged with offences under both the Biological Weapons and Terrorism Act, the incident had not been declared terror-related.
‘At this time counter terror policing have not declared the events of July 29 a terrorist incident,’ she said. ‘I recognise these new charges may lead to speculation.
‘The method by which Axel Rudakubana has been charged under the Terror Act does not require motive to be established.’
She urged people against speculating about Rudakubana’s motive online and on social media, adding that the suspect had a ‘right to a fair trial.’
Rudakubana is due to enter a plea to the murder and attempted murder charges next month. A previous hearing, at Liverpool Crown Court, heard he has autism.
The three girls had been attending the summer holiday club at the Hart Space Community Centre, in Southport, when they were stabbed on July 29. Eight other children and two adults were also seriously injured.
A sea of teddies, balloons and flowers was left outside Southport Town Hall in tribute to the children in the immediate aftermath.
The teenager is accused of murdering three young girls – Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King, six
Floral tributes left for the Southport victims
The attack and subsequent rioting prompted King Charles to express his ‘profound shock’ and cut into his holiday to Balmoral, in Scotland, to visit the Merseyside seaside town.
Professor Tim Atkins, from the Government’s Defence Science Technology Laboratory, at Porton Down, said 0.5mg of ricin is deadly to humans.
The organisation worked in partnership with Merseyside police once the substance was discovered and quickly confirmed it was the toxin.
He said: ‘At all stages of the incident, DSTL have worked closely with Merseyside Police, with the priority that people were kept safe, and to allow the police to respond and investigate as quickly as possible.’
