London — A British teen pleaded guilty Monday to murdering three girls and attempting to kill 10 other people in what a prosecutor said was a “meticulously planned” stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer. Axel Rudakubana, 18, entered the surprise plea as jury selection had been expected to begin at the start of his trial in Liverpool Crown Court.
The July 29 stabbings sent shock waves across the U.K. and led to a week of widespread rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland after the suspect was falsely identified as an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat. He was actually born in Wales.
The rampage occurred on the first day of summer vacation when the little girls at the Hart Space, a facility hidden behind a row of houses, were in a class to learn yoga and dance to the songs of Taylor Swift. What was supposed to be a day of joy turned to terror and heartbreak when Rudakubana, armed with a knife, intruded and began stabbing the girls and their teacher in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England.
Tributes to victims are left by well-wishers, July 30, 2024, in Southport, England, after teenager armed with a knife attacked children at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club, killing two kids and leaving six more in critical condition, along with two adults.
Chris Furlong/Getty
“This was an unspeakable attack — one which left an enduring mark on our community and the nation for its savagery and senselessness,” Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Ursula Doyle said. “A day which should have been one of carefree innocence; of children enjoying a dance workshop and making friendship bracelets, became a scene of the darkest horror as Axel Rudakubana carried out his meticulously planned rampage.”
Prosecutors haven’t said what they believe led Rudakubana — who was days shy of his 18th birthday — to commit the atrocities but Doyle said it was clear he had a “a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence.”
Rudakubana had consistently refused to speak in court and did so once again when asked to identify himself at the start of the proceedings. But he broke his silence when he was read the 16-count indictment and asked to enter a plea, replying “guilty” to each charge.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges related to possessing the poison ricin and for having an al-Qaeda manual.
Murder suspect Axel Rudakubana appears via video link at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with production of the deadly poison ricin and a terrorism offense, in London, England, Oct. 30, 2024, in a file courtroom sketch.
Julia Quenzler/Handout/REUTERS
Rudakubana faces life imprisonment when sentenced Thursday, Justice Julian Goose said.
Defense lawyer Stanley Reiz said he would present information to the judge about Rudakubana’s mental health that may be relevant to his sentence.
The surviving victims and family members of those killed were absent in court because they had expected to arrive Tuesday for opening statements.
Goose asked the prosecutor to apologize on his behalf that they were not present to hear Rudakubana plead guilty.
He pleaded guilty to murdering Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6.
Eight other girls, ranging in age from 7 to 13, were wounded, along with instructor Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes, who worked in a business next door and intervened. Fifteen other girls, as young as 5, were at the class but uninjured. Under a court order, none of the surviving girls can be named.
Police said the stabbings weren’t classified as acts of terrorism because the motive wasn’t known.
Several months after his arrest at the scene of the crime, Rudakubana was charged with additional counts for production of a biological toxin, ricin and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism for having the manual in a document on his computer.
Police said they found the evidence during a search of his family’s home in a neighboring village.
The day after the killings — and shortly after a peaceful vigil for the victims — a violent group attacked a mosque near the crime scene and pelted police officers with bricks and bottles and set fire to police vehicles.
Rioting then spread to dozens of other towns over the next week when groups made up mostly of men mobilized by far-right activists on social media clashed with police during violent protests and attacked hotels housing migrants.
More than 1,200 people were arrested for the disorder and hundreds have been jailed for up to nine years in prison.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, changed his pleas from not guilty to guilty on what was due to be the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
He pleaded guilty to the murder of Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, who were at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event being held for children in the summer vacation in the town of Southport last July.
Rudakubana also pleaded guilty to 10 charges of attempted murder relating to the attack, as well as to producing the deadly poison ricin and the possession of an Al Qaeda training manual.
Judge Julian Goose said he would sentence Rudakubana on Thursday and that a life jail term was inevitable. Goose noted that the victims’ families were not present to see Rudakubana plead guilty as the prosecution opening was not expected until Tuesday.
Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the incident, initially refused to speak when asked to confirm his name, as he had at all previous hearings which meant that not guilty pleas had been entered on his behalf in December.
But, after consulting with his lawyer, he confirmed he wished to change those pleas.
British-born Rudakubana was arrested shortly after the attack in the quiet seaside town north of the city of Liverpool.
Despite the discovery of the Al Qaeda manual, police have said the incident was not being treated as terrorism-related.
In the wake of the murders, large disturbances broke out in Southport after false reports spread on social media that the suspected killer was a radical Islamist migrant.
Those disturbances spread across Britain with attacks on mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer blaming the riots on far-right thuggery. More than 1,500 people were arrested.
Fresh from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry being called “disaster tourists” for visiting the smoldering ruins of people’s homes lost in the Eaton fire, the couple face new scrutiny over the personal, professional and reputational challenges they’ve dealt with in the five years since they left royal life and moved to California.
Unfortunately for the Montecito-based Duke and Duchess of Sussex, “American Hustle,” a new cover story in Vanity Fair, appears to confirm previous reports about Meghan being a “terrible,” “difficult” and even “bullying” boss to her employees. For the 8,000-word piece, the magazine spoke to dozens of people, a number of whom could only be interviewed anonymously because they were required to sign non-disclosure agreements.
While Harry can be “charming,” if giving off the air that he “has no inner life” other than polo, Vanity Fair reported that Meghan seems eager to be “a good person” and to engage “in world-improving (if also brand-building) activities.” And yet, the former TV actor has become a polarizing figure in America. She also tends to engage in what writer Anna Peele described as retaliatory behavior against “people so below her in status.”
Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex member of the British royal family with mayor of Pasadena Victor Gordo at a home at 2858 Highview Ave. and Altadena Dr. that was destroyed during the Eaton Fire in Altadena on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)
Someone who struggled to work on Meghan and Harry’s troubled Netflix and Spotify media projects told Vanity Fair that her relationships with employees tended to follow a familiar pattern. She would “be warm and effusive at the beginning, engendering an atmosphere of professional camaraderie.”
When something didn’t work out, often due to Meghan and Harry’s own demands— such as a teaser for her Spotify podcast being released months before she had even taped any episodes — she “would become cold and withholding toward the person she perceived to be responsible,” the source told Vanity Fair.
The source said it was “really, really, really awful. Very painful. Because she’s constantly playing checkers — I’m not even going to say chess — but she’s just very aware of where everybody is on her board. And when you are not in, you are to be thrown to the wolves at any given moment.”
WINDSOR, UNITED KINGDOM – MAY 19: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex wave as they leave Windsor Castle after their wedding to attend an evening reception at Frogmore House, hosted by the Prince of Wales on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Steve Parsons – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Meghan’s treatment of underlings could be “undermining,” the source also told Vanity Fair. “It’s gnawing at your sense of self. Really, like, ‘Mean Girls’ teenager.”
Before working with Meghan, the person had a hard time believing the stories about Meghan bullying palace aides or yelling at them after she married Harry in 2018. The initial reports came from the Times UK in 2021, a year after Meghan and Harry left Britain, decrying cruel and racist treatment by the tabloid media and the royal family. But after working with Meghan, this person found such behavior happened “on any given Tuesday.”
Vanity Fair reported that one person took a leave of absence after working with Meghan on three episodes of her Spotify “Archetypes” podcast, while “several others’ said they took extended breaks, left their jobs or underwent long-term therapy after working with the former TV actor.
“I think if Meghan acknowledged her own shortcomings or personal contributions to situations rather than staying trapped in a victim narrative, her perception might be better,” one person told Vanity Fair, before the person half-jokingly said, “But who am I to criticize Meghan Markle? She’s doing great.”
The Vanity Fair report comes at a crucial time for Harry and Meghan’s efforts to make a success of themselves as media moguls, entrepreneurs and global do-gooders.
Britain’s Meghan (C), Duchess of Sussex, and Britain’s Prince Harry (R), Duke of Sussex, arrive at a charity polo game at the Ikoyi Polo Club in Lagos on May 12, 2024 as they visit Nigeria as part of celebrations of Invictus Games anniversary. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP) (Photo by KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images)
Meghan’s plan to launch herself this past week as a lifestyle guru, with her new Netflix series “With Love, Meghan,” was put on hold following the outbreak of the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles on Jan. 8. Meghan announced the series would be pushed to March 4, “as we focus on the needs of those impacted by the wildfires in my home state of California.”
Her critics said she and Netflix clearly had no choice but to delay a show that would depict the duchess celebrating her lavish, Southern California lifestyle with her celebrity friends, after so many others in Pacific Palisades and Altadena had lost everything.
Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan initially received glowing headlines for dropping into Pasadena last Friday to serve meals, leave donations and give hugs to Eaton fire survivors. But they soon began to engender harsh criticism online from actor Justine Bateman and others who were outraged that they were photographed, receiving a personal tour of burned-out neighborhoods from Pasadena’s mayor.
Bateman called them “disaster tourists” and “ambulance chasers.” TMZ founder Harvey Levin and his producers also lambasted the couple on their show earlier this week. “I find it crazy that there are people, most people cannot get into these areas, especially in Altadena and don’t even know if their homes are still there,” Levin said. “For Meghan and Harry to show up from Montecito, and they get a tour? For what purpose?”
Executive producer Charles Latibeaudiere agreed that it seemed like “an ill use of resources,” while senior news producer Charlie Neff said their visit isn’t “sitting well with people in the community…. To be going there doing that feels not genuine and not necessary.”
It remains to be seen whether the “disaster tourist” criticism will stick. But the Vanity Fair story raises questions about their marriage, with Harry depicted as a naive, lonely figure who has failed to make many friends in American and is desperate to reconnect with his family. One source suggested that he did not necessarily realize the damage his tell-all memoir, “Spare,” would have on his relationships with his family. He’s also described as having such a strange, privileged upbringing that he doesn’t “know what life really is” or understand the idea of having to earn a living.
And, the story could also revive Meghan’s alleged bullying controversy. Her representatives initially brushed off the 2021 TImes UK report as part of a “calculated smear campaign,” hatched by a royal establishment and British press that had grown hostile to her. The bullying allegations seemed to die down after Buckingham Palace said in 2022 that it would not release the findings of an internal investigation in Meghan’s alleged bullying.
But The Hollywood Reporter resurrected the issue with a scathing report in September, in which one source said that Meghan “belittles people,” doesn’t take advice and is a “dictator in high heels” who fumes and barks out orders. Both she and Harry are “poor decision-makers,” a source also said, which would explain why the two only managed to produce one 12-episode podcast after two years and a reported $20 million contract. The Daily Beast followed up with another report that quoted employees who described her as “a demon” who had “psycho moments.”
For its report, Vanity Fair talked to people who had good experiences working with Meghan, including producer Jane Marie, who tried to help them develop podcasts for their Archewell productions. “She’s just a lovely, genuine person,” Marie said about Meghan.
Peele, the Vanity Fair writer, tried to offer a sympathetic take on why Meghan might have trouble managing employees or have a chip on her shoulder about people judging her or looking down on her. It goes back to when she claims she was an outsider in high school, Peele noted.
“Is it any surprise that a sense of victimhood and righteousness could continue to exist in a person who had been treated so horribly by the press and her husband’s family?” Peele wrote.
Meghan also may view certain people as enemies or interlopers, and not just “the loathsome” media or “her pitiable father and half sister,” who sold stories about her to the tabloids, Peele said. Meghan’s perceived enemies also could be professionals who work for her, from palace aides to those who “actually knew how to make a podcast,” Peele suggested. She might begin to see them as more powerful than she is, “despite her immense fame and wealth and privilege, “Peele wrote.
“And then whatever happened to them, well…they shouldn’t have gotten between Meghan and her good work,” Peele concluded.
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