A British teenager who killed three girls at a Taylor Swift-inspired dance party was sentenced on Thursday to a minimum of 52 years in prison for the attack, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer called one of the worst moments in British history.
Judge Julian Goose announced the sentence:
“I sentence him to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 52 years. He spent 175 days in custody, so his minimum term will be 51 years and 190 days.”
Goose added that he could not sentence the convict to a guaranteed life sentence without specifying a minimum term because the killer was 17 years old at the time of the offence.
The Prosecutor General’s Office specified that the court’s decision will now be referred to representatives of the judiciary to consider appealing it under the overly lenient sentencing programme.
The convict was not present in the courtroom during the announcement of the verdict, as he had been taken out of the room a little earlier after attempting to disrupt the proceedings by shouting that he was unwell, which was not confirmed by the doctors who examined him.
Outbreak of riots
His knife attack on a junior dance class in the summer of 2024 sparked riots that spread across the city and later across the country.
Protesters attacked a mosque and stoned police officers and set cars on fire in Southport. Police said the far-right English Defence League movement, which is anti-Islam and anti-Muslim, was behind the violence.
According to the department’s version, the protesters succumbed to social media reports falsely attributing links to Islamism to the attacker of the children. The police stressed at the time that Rudakubana was born in the UK and “speculation is not good for anyone at the moment.” During the announcement of the verdict it became clear that the defendant did have an interest in radical Islamism – during a search of the teenager’s computer they found an Al-Qaeda training manual.
