Warning: This article contains graphic references to violence
When yoga instructor Leanne Lucas posted an advert for a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport, the two-hour dance class sold out within 11 days.
It was a beautiful summer’s morning on 29 July when 26 children, all girls aged between six and 13, were dropped off by their parents to dance, play and make friendship bracelets.
Meanwhile, at his family home in the nearby village of Banks, Lancashire, Axel Rudakubana, then 17, armed himself with a 20cm kitchen knife he had earlier bought on Amazon.
10am: The workshop led by Leanne and her colleague Heidi Liddle gets under way.
11.04am: Rudakubana searches online for “Mar Mari Emmanuel stabbing” – the knife attack on a bishop in Sydney, Australia, earlier that year.
11.10am: Despite the sunshine, he is wearing a green hoodie with the hood up and a surgical face mask covering his face when he leaves his home in the village of Banks in Lancashire.
11.11am: One minute later, he is captured on CCTV at a bus stop making a call to book a taxi.
11.16am: Around five minutes later he heads back towards home.
11.30am: Rudakubana is picked up and travels in silence for the 4.5-mile journey to Hart Street in Southport.
On the first map start with the marker at the bottom and then click next.
11.43am: When he arrives, he asks the driver to direct him to 34a. But he refuses to pay the driver, who then follows him down a driveway towards Masters Vehicle Body Repairs at number 36a.
11.44am: Rudakubana retreats after the owner of the car repair workshop, Colin Parry, and his colleague confront him, telling him to pay the fare but Rudakubana replies: “What are you going to do about it?”
Image: Colin Parry owns a business near the scene of the crime
Inside the dance studio, on the first floor of an industrial unit down a path off the main road, children are gathered around tables making bracelets, while a life-size model of Taylor Swift stands nearby for the youngsters to pose for photos with.
As Ms Lucas opens a window because of the hot weather she sees the teenager outside but thinks nothing of it.
11.45am: Rudakubana walks into the 34a Hart Street building, climbs up the stairs to the first floor and opens the door armed with the black-handled kitchen knife.
Without saying a word, he grabs the girl nearest to him and begins stabbing her, before moving through the room, stabbing as many children as he can.
11.46am: CCTV shows one child as she tries to escape the building but is dragged back in by Rudakubana, before she staggers out and collapses.
11.47am: Merseyside Police receive their first emergency call.
11.48-11.56am: North West Ambulance Service respond after a call reporting the stabbings.
On the below map start with the marker at the bottom and then click next.
Image: Joel Verite carried an injured child to the street to get help
Window cleaner, Joel Verite, then 25, is driving past with his work partner. They stop to help Leanne Lucas who has been stabbed in the back before fleeing the building with several children. She tells them children are being attacked.
Mr Verite runs down the driveway to the dance studio where a mother waiting to collect her daughter has parked. She has her daughter in the car and three other girls who have managed to escape.
She asks him to help a child who has been stabbed several times. He later described opening the door behind the driver’s seat to find the girl “had many holes in her body”.
Image: An aerial view of the scene as police investigate.
Mr Verite carries the child back to the street, where other members of the public are gathering to help. Then he runs to the building’s entrance, where he is told by two men the attacker is in the dance studio.
Mr Verite sees a man at the top of the stairs with his hood up, holding a knife. The attacker moves away when seen, while Mr Verite calls “for everyone to come over and block him in”.
On the below map start with the marker on the left and then click next.
Jonathan Hayes is at work in an office located across the landing from the dance studio when he hears screaming and looks out of the window to see some children running across the car park.
He leaves his desk intending to go outside to help but, as he walks on to the landing, he sees a child on the floor, motionless and bleeding. The attacker is crouching over her but starts to follow Mr Hayes as he retreats. Mr Hayes tries to grab the knife and the defendant swipes at him and stabs him in the leg. His colleague chases Rudakubana out of the office and shuts the door.
Car repair shop owner Colin Parry is also now on the scene, after being phoned by a colleague who’d heard the screaming next door. He sees children running past, some lying on the floor injured.
11.57am: The first police officer, Sergeant Gillespie, arrives at the scene to find Rudakubana holding the knife, which he drops when ordered to do so by the officer.
Mr Verite, a former rugby league player for Wigan and Salford, follows officers inside and sees blood everywhere as two officers tackle the attacker to the floor. He carries an injured child out to an ambulance and stays with her.
Police find Heidi Liddle and a little girl she protected hiding in a toilet. They are escorted from the building crying.
11.59am: Rudakubana is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, then further arrested on suspicion of murder three minutes later.
Image: Forensic officers at the scene of the murders as the probe continued. Pic: PA
Rudakubana stabbed 11 children and two adults (Leanne Lucas and John Hayes) – causing the deaths of Alice da Silva Aguiar (nine), Bebe King (six) and Elsie Dot Stancombe (seven).
He was taken to Copy Lane police station where he remained silent throughout his interviews with officers.
Despite later discovering he had a wide interest in violence, genocide and terrorism from an analysis of his digital devices, police say they still don’t know why he carried out the attack.
In the hours after the stabbings, false rumours spread online claiming the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK on a small boat, sparking a wave of rioting and unrest across the country.
Image: Tributes laid in Southport for the three girls who died. Pic: PA
On Monday, as his trial was about to start, Rudakubana pleaded guilty to the three murders and 10 other charges of attempted murder.
He also pleaded guilty to production of a biological toxin, ricin, found in a container under his bed the day after the attack, and possession of an academic analysis of an al Qaeda training manual under the Terrorism Act.
When he was charged with the offences in October, police maintained the attack was not being treated as a terrorist incident.
Image: There was an outpouring of shock and grief at what happened. Pic: PA
During the sentencing hearing, Rudakubana repeatedly called for proceedings to be stopped, shouting: “I need to see a paramedic because I feel ill.” He was removed twice from court and wasn’t present to hear his sentence.
In his absence, Mr Justice Goose sentenced the 18-year-old to a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years. The judge said “it is likely he will never be released and will be in custody for all his life”.
Explaining his decision, the judge added: “The prosecution have made it clear this does not meet the definition of an act of terrorism within the meaning of the legislation as there is no evidence the purpose was to advance a particular political or ideological cause. I must accept that conclusion.
“However, his culpability is equivalent in its seriousness to terrorist murders, whatever his purpose.
“What he did on July 29 caused such shock and revulsion that it must be seen as the most extreme level of crime.”
Additional reporting by Adam Parker, OSINT editor, and Freya Gibson, junior OSINT producer. Maps credit: Google Earth
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open-source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK
The daughter of a man who was killed by two children has told Sky News “there is a possibility” he could have still been alive if police had taken anti-social behaviour reports more seriously.
Susan Kohli has spoken to The UK Tonight With Sarah-Jane Mee about what she says were failures by the Leicestershire force, leading up to the death of her 80-year-old father Bhim Kohli near Leicester in September 2024.
Mr Kohli was racially abused and physically attacked just yards from his home as he walked his dog in Franklin Park, Braunstone Town. He suffered a broken neck and fractured ribs, and died in hospital the next day.
Image: Susan Kohli
Susan Kohli is critical of how LeicestershirePolice dealt with earlier reports of anti-social behaviour in the area in July and August 2024, before the attack on her father. The force said it did not identify misconduct or missed opportunities, which could have prevented Mr Kohli’s death.
In one of the cases, Ms Kohli said her father faced abusive and racist comments and was spat at. Although the incident in August was not related to her father’s death, she believes a stronger police response could have deterred her dad’s killers.
“Why is it that they’re not taking these things seriously? Are they just waiting for something to happen? Because that’s literally what it looks and feels like.
“They waited for someone to lose their life before they took any stance. If they had arrested these two boys prior to that incident on the 1st of September, there is a possibility my dad could still be here,” she said.
More from UK
A boy, who was 14 at the time of the attack, and a girl, who was 12, denied their part in the killing but were found guilty of manslaughter at Leicester Crown Court in April. The pair cannot be named because of their age.
Jurors heard the boy kicked and punched Mr Kohli – encouraged by the girl who recorded parts of the attack while laughing.
Image: Susan Kohli told Sarah-Jane Mee she felt the children’s sentences were too lenient
Ms Kohli said she felt their sentences were too lenient after the boy received seven years’ detention while the girl was given a three-year youth rehabilitation order.
“We need the sentencing guidelines to be looked at, whether it’s a child or an adult, they know what they are doing at that age.
“Why is it that because they are a child that they get half the sentence of an adult? He’s going to be out in three and a half years or even less. How is that justice for taking somebody’s life? But that’s not justice at all. They’ve given us a life sentence.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:32
Daughter’s anger over child killers
In August, the Court of Appeal ruled the boy’s sentence will not be changed, saying it was neither unduly lenient nor manifestly excessive.
Solicitor General Lucy Rigby had referred the sentence to the court under the unduly lenient sentence scheme. The girl’s sentence was not referred to the Court of Appeal.
Leicestershire Police told Sky News that, due to prior police contact with Mr Kohli, the force referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
The force found that proportionate and reasonable lines of enquiry were followed and concluded that no misconduct or missed opportunities which could have prevented Mr Kohli’s death were identified.
Chief Superintendent Jonathan Starbuck said: “The death of Bhim Kohli is an extremely shocking, traumatic and upsetting incident and our thoughts, sorrow and sympathies continue to remain with Mr Kohli’s family and friends.
“We know that anti-social behaviour has a huge impact on people’s lives. Preventing and addressing incidents and community concerns is of the utmost importance to our force in order to ensure the safety of our residents. This is something we continue to work on, address and to make ongoing improvements wherever we can.
“Through our own local investigation, following direction by the IOPC, we also identified organisational learning in relation to improving our system of logging and tagging anti-social behaviour incidents.”
An IOPC spokesperson said: “We agreed with Leicestershire Police’s finding that police officers did proactively investigate matters reported to them and there was nothing to indicate any officers or police staff committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner justifying disciplinary proceedings.
“And we agreed with learning identified by the force in respect of accurately recording and tagging incidents of anti-social behaviour (ASB), thus ensuring incidents can be dealt with appropriately and to support the long-term management and deterrence of ASB.”
The UK has just sizzled through its hottest summer on record, a phenomenon made 70 times more likely by climate change, the Met Office said today.
It beat the previous high set in 2018, and kicks the notoriously hot summer of 1976 into sixth place.
The persistent heat drove hosepipe bans, “nationally significant” water shortfalls, and even a “false autumn” in places.
The new provisional data found temperatures between 1 June and 31 August 2025 were 16.10C on average across the UK – much higher than the previous record of 15.76C in 2018.
The difference might sound small, but – as an average over a three-month period, including day and nighttime temperatures – is in fact substantial.
All the top five warmest summers have occurred since the year 2000, which the Met Office called a “clear sign of the UK’s changing and warming climate”.
Image: This summer was the hottest by far, much warmer than all the previous records, and relegating 1976 to sixth place.
Did autumn come early this year?
More on Climate Change
Related Topics:
The heat gave rise to early signs of autumn, with blackberries ripening early and leaves turning brown and falling to the ground in August.
This so-called “false autumn” is not the early arrival of the next season, but a survival mechanism of trees and plants when stressed by extreme summer conditions.
They shed leaves and fruit ahead of schedule to conserve water and energy, especially the younger trees whose shallow roots can’t access moisture further underground.
Kevin Martin from Kew Gardens called false autumns a “visible warning sign”.
“Trees are remarkably resilient, but they are also long-lived organisms facing rapid environmental changes.”
Was this summer warmer than 1976?
This summer was the hottest on record going back to 1884, and far warmer even than the memorably hot summer of 1976, which now trails in sixth place.
The Met Office’s Dr Mark McCarthy said this shows how “what would have been seen as extremes in the past are becoming more common in our changing climate”.
The summer of 1976 is remembered for its heatwave that lasted more than two weeks, and 16 days in total with temperatures over 32C.
Although 2025 has had just nine days of temperatures over 32C, what is “striking” about this summer is how consistently warm it was, the Met Office said.
Why was this summer so warm?
There were a number of factors that made it so warm, so persistently.
Lingering high pressure made for settled, sunny and warm weather, and fuelled four heatwaves.
It was also very dry, with about a quarter less rain than average for summer – though that varied by region. But it followed the driest spring in England for more than a century.
Dry ground holds less moisture that can evaporate: a process that usually cools things down.
And a marine heatwave sent sea temperatures on the surface well above average, with a knock-on impact on air temperatures.
Overnight temperatures were also high, keeping the average up.
What about climate change?
Climate change made a summer as hot or hotter than this year 70 times more likely, the Met Office said.
It adds another layer of heat on top of the other weather patterns that may have happened without humans changing the climate.
The UK is warming by roughly 0.25C per decade, and is already at least 1.24C warmer than the period between 1961-1990.
Without climate change, a summer like in 2025 would have happened about once in every 340 years. Now it’s expected once in five years.
Anna Roguski from Friends of the Earth, said the summer “underlined how unprepared the UK is for extreme heat”.
She said we “urgently” need to adapt towns with things like stricter building standards, shaded streets and “far more nature woven through neighbourhoods – trees, wetlands and green spaces help to keep things cool”.
“But adaptation alone won’t be enough. To stop summers spiralling ever hotter, we must slash emissions.”
A retired Church of England vicar who was part of an extreme body modification ring run by man who called himself the Eunuch Maker has been jailed for three years.
Warning: The following article contains graphic details of extreme physical mutilation
Reverend Geoffrey Baulcomb, 79, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent after a nine-second video of him using nail scissors to perform a procedure on a man’s penis in January 2020 was found on his mobile phone.
He also admitted seven other charges, including possessing extreme pornography and making and distributing images of children on or before 14 December 2022.
Prosecutors said some of the material included moving images which had been on the eunuch maker website, run by 47-year-old Norwegian national Marius Gustavson.
Image: Marius Gustavson
Gustavson was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years last year after a court heard he made almost £300,000 through his website, where thousands of users paid to watch procedures, including castrations.
Baulcomb was said to have been an “acquaintance” of Gustavson, and the pair exchanged more than 10,000 messages with each other over a four-year period.
He was formerly a vicar at St Mary the Virgin Church in Eastbourne but retired from full-time ministry in the Church of England in 2003.
The diocese of Chichester said he applied for “permission to officiate”, which allows clergy to officiate at church services in retirement, when he moved to Sussex the following year.
But Baulcomb was banned for life from exercising his Holy Orders following a tribunal last year, which heard he was issued with a caution after police found crystal meth and ketamine at his home in December 2022.
He had claimed experimenting with drugs or allowing his home in Eastbourne to be used for drug taking would “better enable him to relate and minister to people with difficulties as part of his pastoral care”.
The diocese said the Bishop of Chichester immediately removed his permission to officiate after being contacted by police, and bail conditions prevented him from attending church or entering Church of England premises.
‘Nullos’ subculture
The Old Bailey heard last year that extreme body modification is linked to a subculture where men become “nullos”, short for genital nullification, by having their penis and testicles removed.
Gustavson and nine other men have previously admitted their involvement in the eunuch maker ring, which one victim said had a “cult-like” atmosphere.
The life-changing surgeries, described as “little short of human butchery” by the sentencing judge, were carried out by people with no medical qualifications, who he had recruited.
Prosecutors said there was “clear evidence of cannibalism” as Gustavson – who had his own penis and nipple removed and leg frozen so it needed to be amputated – cooked testicles to eat in a salad.
Gustavson, who was said to have been involved in almost 30 procedures, pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm between 2016 and 2022.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.