Southport attacker charged with more offences

Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana has been charged with two further offences.

He had already been charged with three charges of murder, 10 charges of attempted murder and one charge of possession of a knife.

Two further offences have now been announced following evidence obtained by Merseyside Police during searches of Axel Rudakubana’s home address.

The additional charges are production of a biological toxin, namely ricin, contrary to Section 1 of the Biological Weapons Act 1974 and possessing information, namely a pdf file entitled “Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual” of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Chief Constable Serena Kennedy from Merseyside Police said: “Following the announcement of the further charges today I wanted to reassure the public of Southport, and Merseyside, that we are committed to achieving justice for the families of Bebe, Elsie and Alice, the 10 victims who were injured at the Hart Space in Southport on that Monday, in July, and the other 16 people who were present.

“We are also committed to being open and transparent with our communities. However, I am sure you will all appreciate that we need to make sure we do not prejudice any trial.

“You may have seen speculation online that the police are deciding to keep things from the public.  This is certainly not the case.

"We have been given extensive guidance by the CPS in relation to what we can say publicly to ensure the integrity of the court proceedings are protected, and therefore we are restricted in what we can share with you now, whilst the proceedings are live."

Officers found an unknown substance at his address and subsequent testing confirmed that it was ricin and police have assured that there was a very low risk to the public and there was no ricin at the scene of the attack.

Chief Constable Kennedy continued: “At this point it is particularly appropriate to recognise the support we have received from the emergency services, the local authority, and Counter Terrorism Policing. That support has included forensics experts and digital investigators. This was in place from the initial stages of the investigation and remains ongoing.

“I want to reassure our communities that we continue to work in partnership with all our partners and are absolutely committed to keeping our communities safe.

“At this time, Counter Terrorism Policing has not declared the attack on Monday 29 July a terrorist incident. I recognise that the new charges, may lead to speculation.  The matter for which Axel Rudakubana has been charged with under the Terrorism Act does not require motive to be established. For a matter to be declared a terrorist incident, motivation would need to be established.

“We would strongly advise caution against anyone speculating as to motivation in this case. The criminal proceedings against Axel Rudakubana are live and he has a right to a fair trial."