Thousands of schools are expected to close, with drivers also warned to stay off the roads and rail services suspended amid rare red weather warnings as Storm Eowyn gets set to batter parts of the UK.

The wind alerts, which cover all of Northern Ireland from 7am on Friday until 2pm, and parts of Scotland from 10am to 5pm, warn of “very dangerous conditions” and “widespread disruption”.

Tornados could also hit parts of the UK ahead of the storm, with forecasters warning of a danger to life.

As many as 4.5 million people got an emergency alert on their phones from the Met Office warning of the incoming storm.

Click here to check the weather where you are

The Met Office said changing conditions could trigger an explosive cyclogenesis – or weather bomb – with strong winds, rain, snow and gusts of up to 90mph expected on Friday.

The red alert is the Met Office’s most serious warning and means the weather is likely to cause “substantial disruption to travel, energy supplies and possibly widespread damage to property and infrastructure”, according to the agency.

A series of amber and yellow warnings have also been put in place, threatening injuries and a danger to life.

Major disruption expected on Friday:
• All schools in Northern Ireland have been advised to close;
• Several local authorities in Scotland have announced schools and nurseries will be shut;
• People in areas covered by red and amber warnings have been told to avoid travel “unless absolutely essential”;
• All ScotRail services will be suspended;
• A number of train companies including Avanti West Coast, Lumo, CrossCountry, and Grand Central have told customers not to travel on routes across parts of North Wales, Scotland and northern England with no services running.
• A number of CalMac ferry services have been cancelled;
• Operations will be limited at Glasgow and Edinburgh airports and Belfast International warned of significant disruption.

Met Eireann has issued a rare nationwide red warning for wind across the Republic of Ireland, describing possible “danger to life”.

Irish premier Simon Harris has warned there is an “extreme” risk to life and said: “We cannot give a higher warning than nationwide red. The risk to life is extreme and real.

In Scotland, First Minister John Swinney said: “Red weather warnings like this are very rare. Our message is simple, please follow the advice from the Met Office and the police, take this seriously and stay safe.”

European storm forecasters Estofex issued a level 2 alert, saying there was a “risk of a few tornados” between 6am on Thursday and 6am on Friday.

“A strong event cannot be ruled out,” the meteorologists said.

“Given rapid translation of thunderstorms, any tornado could be long-tracked… The main tornado risk seems to evolve along and [south] of a Bristol-London line.”

The south coast of England, parts of the South West and much of the Welsh coast are covered by a yellow weather warning for wind from 7am until 6pm on Thursday.

As the storm arrives on Friday, rain and even snow are expected over parts of Northern Ireland, Scotland and on higher ground in northern England.

The whole country is covered by at least one yellow weather warning on Friday, with warnings for snow, wind and rain in place.

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The Met Office says the strongest winds are due to hit the north of England, south of Scotland and North Wales, where an amber wind warning is in place from 6am to 9pm on Friday – but the south of the country will also be affected.

Amber and yellow warnings for wind and rain have also been issued across Saturday and Sunday.

The 52-year prison sentence of Axel Rudakubana is to be reviewed following complaints it was “unduly lenient”.

Southport’s MP Patrick Hurley was among those calling for a longer term on Thursday after the 18-year-old was jailed for murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in July last year.

The Labour backbencher said: “In my view, the sentence passed is unduly lenient. The crimes he committed were horrific and natural justice demands he spends the rest of his life behind bars.

“I have therefore made a request to the attorney general to have the sentence reviewed urgently, with a view to making sure he is never released. My community deserves nothing less.”

The Attorney General’s Office later confirmed the case had been referred under the unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme, which requires just one request in order for punishments handed out in court to be reconsidered.

A spokesperson said: “There is a high threshold for a successful ULS reference. The sentence must be not just lenient but unduly so, for example if the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances of the offence.”

Attorney General Lord Hermer and Solicitor General Lucy Rigby now have 28 days to decide whether to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal for further consideration.

Rudakubana was sentenced after earlier pleading guilty to the murders, along with the attempted murders of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

He was also convicted of having a knife, which he had bought on Amazon, on the date of the killings, production of the deadly poison ricin, and possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

His 52-year minimum term is thought to be the longest imposed on a killer of his age. Once the minimum term is reached, he would be subjected to a Parole Board review before he could ever be considered for release.

Because he carried out the crimes just nine days short of his 18th birthday, it means by law he could not be sentenced to a whole life order, which would mean he would never be released from jail.

This tariff is usually only imposed on criminals aged 21 or over but can be considered for those aged 18 to 20 in exceptional circumstances.

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Describing the minimum sentence as “substantial”, Mr Justice Goose, sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, said he would serve “almost the whole of his life in custody”.

He added: “I consider at this time that it is likely that he will never be released and that he will be in custody for all his life.”

The judge also said he “must accept” that the prosecution had made it clear the attack did not meet the legal definition of an act of terrorism because there was no evidence of attempting to advance a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.

A parent of one of the children who survived the attack, who cannot be named, told The Sun the crimes were so horrific the killer should “rot in jail” and the “law needs changing”.

Mr Hurley said he supported demands for a law change, as did Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who said there was a “strong case” for amending the law to allow for whole life orders to be imposed on people aged under 18 in some cases.

Downing Street declined to comment when earlier asked about the proposal.

Axel Rudakubana’s horrific knife attack on a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club killed three children and injured others. This is how it unfolded.

By Natasha Muktarsingh, assistant editor, and Henry Vaughan, home affairs reporter

Thursday 23 January 2025 18:43, UK

Why you can trust Sky News

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.

This is a timeline of what happened next:

Follow latest: Dance class killer Axel Rudakubana sentenced

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.

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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.

Read more:
What are the UK’s knife crime laws?
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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?”

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.

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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”.

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”.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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