Taylor Alert – Chilling moment Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana is restrained by pupils in classroom ‘as he tried to attack child he accused of bullying him’

This is the chilling moment Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana had to be restrained by fellow pupils as he launched an attack in a classroom at his former high school before he was later expelled.

The footage circulated amongst former pupils after Rudakubana, 18, from Banks, Lancashire, today admitted to murdering three young girls in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29 last year.

Following his guilty pleas, the missed opportunities to stop Rudakubana were laid bare, including how he was allegedly planning the UK’s first high school massacre but was stopped by his father a week before the Southport attack.

It mirrored an horrific early warning when he was just 13 and was expelled from Range High School in Formby after calling ChildLine and threatening to bring a knife to lessons and attack bullies.

Shortly before he was expelled, Rudakubana was caught on video being dramatically held back by fellow pupils at Range High. The footage seen by the Mail is understood to have involved him trying to attack a child who he accused of bullying him.

In chaotic scenes, Rudakubana is seen lunging as at least three other pupils and a teacher surround him, while other children watch on from their classroom desks.

He then attended specialist educational units including a college in Southport which sources said he only attended ‘two or three times’.  

Rudakubana was today branded ‘generational evil’ by professionals who tried to work with the troubled teenager after his expulsion from school over his obsession with genocidal killers and bloody dictators.

Merseyside Police today issued this mugshot of Axel Rudakubana, 18, of Banks, Lancashire, after he pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to all 16 counts he was charged with

This is the moment Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana had to be restrained by fellow pupils

Rudakubana is seen lunging at others and being held back (left) while his teacher watches on (right)

In the months before last July’s attack, police were regularly in attendance at his family’s £170,000 three-bedroom terraced house in a quiet village outside Southport in support of social workers due to the risk he posed.

‘Rudakubana rang Childline when he was 13 to say he was going to bring a knife into Range High School because he was being bullied,’ a source said.

‘They immediately raised the alarm and he was immediately excluded. He never actually brought a knife in.’

But around a fortnight later he sneaked back onto the school grounds armed with a hockey stick, apparently trying to attack children who he felt had wronged him.

Former pupils said one boy suffered a broken wrist.

Police were called after the incident in December 2019 and Rudakubana was later given a ten-month referral order by a youth court – believed to be his only brush with the law prior to last July’s atrocity.

The source added: ‘By all accounts he was a normal year 9 pupil until this happened, he was a model student.

‘The knife threat and then the hockey stick attack seem to have been the start of him becoming obsessed with the most horrific violence, eventually culminating in the attack on the dance studio.

‘That was the spark which started everything.’

Sources stressed that Rudakubana was raised a Catholic and there was no religious motivation around his fixation on violence or the dance studio attack.

‘He had no religious links whatsoever – he was just pure evil and wanted to hurt people,’ one said. ‘It was as simple as that. I would describe him as generational evil.’

Rudakubana is held back by another pupil. The footage is believed to be of him trying to attack a pupil who he claimed had been bullying him

A court artist’s sketch of Axel Rudakubana appearing at Liverpool Crown Court this morning

Police officers at Rudakubana’s home on Old School Close in Banks, Lancashire, last October

At 11 years old, Rudakubana appeared dressed as Doctor Who in a television advert for BBC Children In Need, after being recruited through a casting agency, it is understood.

When Rudakubana was just 13, he was expelled from Range High School (pictured) in Formby after calling ChildLine and threatening to bring a knife to lessons and attack bullies

Rudakubana received regular medical assessments as well as having a social worker.

‘He was seen by multiple medical professionals, and autism was the prevailing diagnosis,’ said the source.

‘But while there was a major flag on his case because of his threat to bring a knife into school, there were no incidents of violence or carrying a weapon.

‘He became obsessed with wars, conflicts, genocides and the most appalling atrocities.

‘That’s how he came to be referred to Prevent and counter-terrorism.

‘It’s just chilling how he went from being an apparently normal year 9 kid to becoming just uncontrollably evil.

‘He tried to attack his old school a week before the dance studio attack. He booked a taxi to take him to Range High School but his dad stopped him from going.

‘He’s had no interaction with his old school from the hockey stick incident right through to last July.

‘There were no threats or anything like that, it just came out of the blue.’

Police officers at Rudakubana’s home on Old School Close in Banks, Lancashire, last October

Rudakubana was born in Cardiff and moved with his family to Lancashire about a decade ago

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, was one of the three children killed in the knife attack in Southport

Bebe King, six, was also killed in the knife attack at The Hart Space in Southport last July

Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, was among the three little girls killed in the attack in Southport 

After his expulsion, Rudakubana attended specialist education provision in the Southport area.

At the time of the atrocity he was on the books of a college but had only attended two or three times.

‘He just bunked off all the time,’ a source said.

Police were regularly present to support social workers attending his family home over his poor attendance.

‘Social workers who visited him always brought their own security,’ a source said.

‘It was felt that for their own safety it was better for them to have someone to keep them safe because they were so worried about what he was capable of.’

Rudakubana became ‘obsessed’ with sociopolitical history focusing on the worst atrocities of the 20th century.

‘It was all he would talk about, all he wanted to read about,’ said a source who worked with him.

‘Just as some children are fixated on football, they know all the players, all their stats, he was the same about genocidal killers and bloody dictators.

A prison van believed to contain Axel Rudakubana arriving at Liverpool Crown Court today

A heavy police presence outside Liverpool Crown Court for Rudakubana’s appearance today

Police officers stand outside Liverpool Crown Court today ahead of Rudakubana appearing

The teenager’s guilty plea is likely to raise pressure on how he slipped through the cracks, engaging in a horrific crime and sparking a summer of violent, often racist, unrest across the UK, fuelled by online conspiracy theories

‘If you wanted to know about the IRA’s killing campaign or Colonel Gaddafi’s brutal regime, Rudakubana could tell you all about it.

‘He collected books and literature and read up on it obsessively.

‘The nastier it was, the more interesting he found it.

‘The fact his family fled the genocide in Rwanda was evidently part of his obsession with violence.

‘But the Rwanda genocide was just one of many conflicts that he was fixated by.

‘It was his fascination with mass murder and atrocities what seems to have fuelled his obsession with carrying out a horrific killing himself.

‘There was no ideology behind it, he just wanted to kill as many people as possible.

‘The shock of someone so evil living in the heart of the community like that is going to take a long, long time for everyone in the Southport area to comprehend.’

After the teenager’s guilty plea, it was also revealed that there were fears he may have been planning Britain’s first high school massacre a week before the knife rampage.

Armed with a large kitchen knife, the teenager wore a green hooded sweatshirt and surgical mask as he left his home to a waiting taxi. 

It would be the same outfit he chose to wear when he went on his murderous rampage in Southport last July.

But his father Alphonse ran out after him and pleaded with the taxi driver not to take him on the 15-mile journey from the family home in Banks, Lancashire, to Range High School.

There is no suggestion Rudakubana’s father knew what he is believed to have been planning at the school, but an eyewitness said: ‘There was a confrontation and Rudakubana was eventually persuaded to leave the vehicle.’

Rudakubana pleaded guilty to murdering the three girls and harming 10 others.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died following the attack in Southport on July 29, 2024. 

He also admitted production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.