Southport stabbings suspect faces separate terror charge after ricin and al Qaeda manual found at home
The teenager accused of stabbing three girls to death in Southport faces a separate terror charge after police said a biological toxin and an al Qaeda training manual were found in a search of his home.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, from Lancashire, had already been charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder following the mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in July.
At a briefing today, Chief Constable Serena Kennedy from Merseyside Police said the teenager now faces two further charges related to evidence obtained by police following searches of his home after the attacks.
She said he now faces one charge of the “production of a biological toxin, namely ricin, contrary to Section 1 of the Biological Weapons Act 1974”.
He also faces a terror charge of possession of information “likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000”.
The victims of the attack from left: Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King.
Pic: Merseyside Police
She added that this charge relates to a PDF file entitled “Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual”.
However, police have not declared the events of 29 July a terrorist incident.
“For a matter to be declared as a terrorist incident, motivation would need to be established,” Chief Constable Kennedy said.
Health officials added that there was no evidence of ricin poisoning at the dance event where the attack took place, or that any members of the public were exposed to the toxin.
“Following the events of Monday 29 July, searches of Axel Rudakubana’s home resulted in an unknown substance being found. Testing confirmed the substance as ricin,” Chief Constable Kennedy said.
“We have worked extensively with partners to establish there was a low to very low risk to the public and I want to make that reassurance clear today.”
Ricin was confirmed to have been found at Rudakubana’s home after scientists from the government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory carried out tests on the evidence.
Axel Rudakubana when he was younger
Dr Renu Bindra, from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said experts from the agency “immediately undertook a thorough public health risk assessment” after police alerted them to the presence of ricin at the property in early August.
She continued: “There was no evidence that any victims, responders or members of the public were exposed to ricin, either as part of the incident or afterwards.
“Our detailed initial risk assessment judged that the risk to the community, and to the wider public, was low.”
Rudakubana will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via videolink tomorrow in relation to the latest charges.
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Flowers laid in Southport after the deaths of the three girls. Pic: AP
Girls killed and children injured
The three girls who died in the Southport attack were named as six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar.
Eight other children were stabbed in the attack at The Hart Space community centre in the Merseyside town.
Five of them were left in a critical condition. Two adults who were trying to protect the children were also left in a critical condition.
Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time, was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the attack the same day.
Emergency services close to the scene after the Southport stabbing attack. Pic: PA
It was followed by days of far-right riots up and down the UK after misinformation online said the suspect was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK by boat.
However, it later emerged that Rudakubana was born in Cardiff in Wales.
Nearly 400 people have so far been jailed for offences relating to the disorder, the government has said.
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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