Not guilty pleas have been entered on behalf of Southport stabbings suspect Axel Rudakubana after he refused to speak in court.
The 18-year-old appeared at Liverpool Crown Court today by video-link from Belmarsh prison, wearing a grey tracksuit.
He didn’t answer when asked to confirm his name and sat fiddling with his hands as a prison officer confirmed he could hear the court.
Rudakubana refused to reply when the clerk read out the indictment and the judge Mr Justice Goose directed not guilty pleas should be entered on all 16 counts.
He is charged with three counts of murder, 10 of attempted murder and possession of a kitchen knife over the attack in the Merseyside town on 29 July.
Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar were killed, while eight other children, aged between seven and 13, were injured, along with yoga instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
Image: Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King.
Pic: Merseyside Police
Rudakubana was aged 17 at the time of the attack at The Hart Space, which has not been declared terror-related, according to Merseyside Police.
He was later charged with producing ricin and allegedly possessing an al Qaeda training manual apparently found in searches of his home in Banks, Lancashire, in the days after the mass stabbing.
The first additional charge, under the Biological Weapons Act 1974, states that he produced a biological toxin, namely ricin, on or before 29 July.
The second, under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000, alleges he possessed a PDF file entitled “Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual”.
Rudakubana is due to face trial at the same court on 20 January, with the case expected to last up to four weeks.
There were around 15 family members of the victims in court for today’s hearing, including Alice’s parents.
At times, Rudakubana swayed his head from side to side, bowed his head towards his knees and wobbled his jaw.
The judge told him: “Your trial will now take place on 20 January and you will be transferred from where you are now to a more convenient place for the purposes of attending this court.”
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has said it will “pause” shipments to the US as the British car firm works to “address the new trading terms” of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The US president has introduced a 25% levy on all foreign cars imported into the country, which came into force on Thursday.
JLR, one of the country’s biggest carmakers, exported about 38,000 cars to the US in the third quarter of 2024 – almost equal to the amount sold to the UK and the EU combined.
In a statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for the company behind the Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover brands said: “The USA is an important market for JLR’s luxury brands.
“As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans.”
The company released a statement last week before Mr Trump announced a “baseline” 10% tariff on goods from around the world, which kicked in on Saturday morning, on what he called “liberation day”.
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JLR reassured customers its business was “resilient” and “accustomed to changing market conditions”.
“Our priorities now are delivering for our clients around the world and addressing these new US trading terms,” the firm said.
Trading across the world has been hit by Mr Trump’s tariff announcement at the White House on Wednesday.
All but one stock on the FTSE 100 fell on Friday – with Rolls-Royce, banks and miners among those to suffer the sharpest losses.
Cars are the top product exported from the UK to the US, with exports worth £8.3bn in the year to the end of September 2024, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
For UK carmakers, the US is the second largest export market behind the European Union.
Industry groups have previously warned the tariffs will force firms to rethink where they trade, while a report by thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research said more than 25,000 car manufacturing jobs in the UK could be at risk.
Two people have died following a fire at a caravan site near Skegness, Lincolnshire Police have said.
In a statement, officers said they were called at 3.53am on Saturday to a report of a blaze at Golden Beach Holiday Park in the village of Ingoldmells.
Fire and rescue crews attended the scene, and two people were found to have died.
They were reported to be a 10-year-old girl and a 48-year-old man.
The force said the victims’ next of kin have been informed and will be supported by specially trained officers.
Officers are trying to establish the exact cause of the blaze.
“We are at the very early stages of our investigation and as such we are keeping an open mind,” the force said.
A 15-year-old boy has died after “getting into difficulty” in a lake in southeast London, police say.
Officers and paramedics were called shortly after 3pm on Friday to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham.
The Metropolitan Police said a boy “was recovered from the lake” at around 10.42pm the same day.
“He was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious,” according to the force.
The boy’s family has been told and are being supported by specialist officers.
The force originally said the child was 16 years old, but has since confirmed his age as 15.
In the earlier statement, officers said emergency services carried out a search and the park was evacuated.
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Image: Emergency teams were called to Beckenham Place Park on Friday afternoon
Beckenham Place Park, which borders the London borough of Bromley, covers around 240 acres, according to the park’s website.
The lake is described as 285 metres long, reaching depths of up to 3.5 metres.
It is designed as a swimming lake for open-water swimming and paddle boarding.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Friday: “We were called at 3.02pm this afternoon to reports of a person in the water.
“We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team.”
Emergency teams have not explained how the boy entered the water, or whether he was accompanied by others.