Southport suspect stays silent in court while facing terror charge

ITV News’ Victoria Grimes was in Southport as Axel Rudakubana appeared at Westminster’s Magistrates Court
The teenager accused of murdering three girls at a dance class in Southport has appeared in court facing fresh charges.
Axel Rudakubana appeared via videolink from HMP Belmarsh on Wednesday, 30 October, and sat holding his sweater over the bottom half of his face.
The 18-year-old is charged with production of ricin, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.
He did not respond when asked to confirm his name, and a security officer with him at the prison told the court he had chosen not to speak.
Stan Reiz KC, defending, said: “Mr Rudakubana has remained silent at previous hearings as well. For reasons of his own he has chosen not to answer the question.”
Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC made reference to the murder and attempted murder charges Axel Rudakubana also faces.
She told Westminster Magistrates’ Court the 18-year-old is charged with “offences committed in Southport in July”.
“He is currently facing proceedings in Liverpool Crown Court,” Ms Heer said. “In respect of those matters, he is due to appear on 13 November for a plea trial and preparation hearing.
“And the Crown’s application would be for both of those matters to be sent directly to Liverpool Crown Court to link up with those matters.”
The chief magistrate, district judge Paul Goldspring, asked whether the matters were related. Ms Heer confirmed they are.
Chief magistrate district judge Paul Goldspring told the court the new charges were “related” to the counts Rudakubana already faces in relation to the Southport incident.
Judge Goldspring told the defendant: “They are related in the sense that they come out of the same facts.”
He sent the case to Liverpool Crown Court where Axel Rudakubana will appear on November 13 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
The judge added: “The prosecution will ask the judge to link up matters together.”
Mr Goldspring told Rudakubana he would further be remanded in custody on the new charges.
Mr Rudakubana is already charged with the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, who were stabbed during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Hart Street, on 29 July
He is also accused of the attempted murder of eight other children, instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes, and possession of a knife.
The latest charges came after searches of Rudakubana’s home in Banks, Lancashire, Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said at a press conference on Tuesday, 29 October.
The alleged terror offence relates to a PDF file entitled Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants, The Al Qaeda Training Manual.
Searches were carried out in the days after the attack, although it was not confirmed when the ricin was found.
According to the charges, authorised by the CPS, the toxin was produced on or before 29 July, and Rudakubana was charged with possessing the document between 29 August 2021 and 30 July 2024.
Downing Street has denied withholding information about the Southport attacks from the public, after Conservative and Reform MPs questioned whether a cover-up had taken place.
But Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has urged the public not to speculate on the case in order to ensure the victims’ families get justice.
Rudakubana is alleged to have entered the school holiday dance class at a small business park in Southport shortly before midday on 29 July.
The day after the attack, thousands of people turned out for a peaceful vigil in the town but later a separate protest erupted into violence outside a mosque in the town.
In the following week, protests took place in dozens of towns and cities across the country and descended into violence and rioting, with asylum centre hotels in particular targeted.
More than 1,000 arrests have since been made and hundreds of people have been charged and jailed.
A provisional trial date for Rudakubana has been set for January 2025.
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