Rudakubana was moved from Belmarsh prison to Broadmoor high-security hospital (above) this week. Photograph: Neil Hall/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen Rudakubana was moved from Belmarsh prison to Broadmoor high-security hospital (above) this week. Photograph: Neil Hall/Shutterstock Southport attack Southport killer Axel Rudakubana moved to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital Exclusive: Clinical assessments concluded Rudakubana could not be safely managed in prison, sources say
Prefer the Guardian on Google The Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been moved from prison to a psychiatric hospital after clinical assessment, the Guardian can disclose.
He was transferred to Broadmoor high-security hospital from the category A prison Belmarsh this week after it was concluded that he could not be managed safely in a prison environment, sources confirmed.
People in psychiatric units such as Broadmoor are treated as patients rather than prisoners. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said he would remain locked up and is unlikely to ever be released.
The move is likely to anger many of the families of his victims, who will argue he was assessed as fit to stand trial in January 2025.
It means the cost of his incarceration will rise. Costs for patients in hospital secure units are more than £300,000 each a year, compared with about £60,000 for prisoners, Whitehall sources said.
Rudakubana, 19, from Banks, Lancashire, was jailed for life in January 2025, with a minimum sentence of 52 years, for the “sadistic” murders of Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar.
View image in fullscreen Left to right: Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine. Composite: Merseyside police He attacked eight other children, the class instructor Leanne Lucas, and businessman John Hayes, who had tried to disarm him at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July 2024 in Southport. He was also found guilty of producing the biological toxin ricin and of possessing an al-Qaida training manual, an offence under the Terrorism Act.
Alder Hey children’s NHS foundation trust confirmed Rudakubana had been under its care as a mental health patient between 2019 and 2023, when he “stopped engaging”. He was referred to them after taking a knife to school and later saying he had done so “to use it”.
He was also referred to the UK’s counter-extremism programme, Prevent, because he had been researching school massacres on a computer at his next school, the Acorns.
There were two other referrals to Prevent, but none were progressed as Rudakubana had no clear ideology behind his obsession with violence.
In May 2025, Rudakubana attacked a prison officer with boiling water, sparking an internal inquiry at Belmarsh.
View image in fullscreen An artist’s sketch of Axel Rudakubana appearing via video link during a court appearance. Photograph: Julia Quenzler/Reuters Responding to the move to Broadmoor, Mark Fairhurst, the national chair of the POA union, which represents prison, correctional, and secure psychiatric workers, said his members believed he was “playing the system” so he could move to a more comfortable environment.
He said: “[Rudakubana] is not mentally unwell. He is playing the system and is nothing more than evil. He should spend his entire sentence in solitary confinement staring at four walls.
“It is appalling to think that he will now enjoy all the freedoms a secure hospital is forced to…