The Southport killer Axel Rudakubana, serving life in prison for ⁠the murders of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event ⁠in 2024, ⁠has ​been charged with assaults on prison staff, police have said.

On ⁠29 July 2024, Rudakubana, then 17, launched a frenzied knife attack in Southport, north-west England, killing Bebe King, six, Elsie ​Dot Stancombe, seven, ‌and Alice da Silva ‌Aguiar, nine.

Rudakubana injured 10 others in the ‌attack, which was followed by days of rioting across the country. He was jailed for a minimum of 52 years after he admitted to the killings shortly before trial last year.

Left to right: Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar. Photograph: Merseyside Police/PA

Rudakubana, now 19, ‌has been charged with attempted grievous bodily harm relating to an incident in ​May 2025, and assault on an emergency worker two days earlier, the Metropolitan police said on Friday.

He has also been charged with possession of an offensive weapon ⁠in prison, and assault on an emergency worker in October 2025, ​and will ​appear at Westminster ​magistrates court on 11 September.

Rudakubana was ​recently moved ‌from prison ​to ​the Broadmoor top-security psychiatric hospital after it was concluded he could not be managed safely in a prison environment. The families of the three girls described the move as an attempt “to manipulate the system”.