Chain of Events Leading to Tragic Murder of Three Girls in UK
How did a series of events starting five years ago culminate in the horrific murder of three girls in the UK? The story begins with Axel Rudakubana returning to school after the summer holidays, a mere 13 years old.
Initially described as unassuming during his time in Year 7 and 8, everything changed for him in that summer. A source from Range High School in Formby, Merseyside, remarked, "What happened that summer is the question."
By the start of the new term, he reported experiencing racial bullying. Classmates noted his increasingly disruptive behaviour in class, leading to the phrase "Doing an Axel" to describe his outbursts.
In October 2019, Rudakubana made a concerning anonymous call to NSPCC's Childline, expressing violent thoughts towards his bully and revealing he had brought a kitchen knife to school multiple times. His lawyer referred to this as a plea for help.
Shortly after the call, he was permanently expelled from Range High School and moved from one educational facility to another, failing to settle anywhere. His increasingly violent fixation raised red flags among his educators and mental health professionals.
Rudakubana's violent tendencies escalated when he returned to Range High armed with a hockey stick, injuring another student, which led to an arrest for carrying a bladed article. He was enrolled in a rehabilitation programme focused on knife crime and completed it in 2021.
As lockdown began in March 2020, Rudakubana became more isolated, spending time online and allegedly downloading an al-Qaida training manual. He later attempted to manufacture the deadly poison ricin.
Despite several warnings and concerns from authorities about his behaviour, he continued to go unmonitored by the police, even after being implicated in multiple concerning incidents.
By February 2023, Rudakubana disengaged from mental health support and school entirely, dwelling within his disturbing obsessions. Nearly five years after his desperate call to Childline, he was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in prison for the shocking murders.
