The 52-year prison sentence handed to Axel Rudakubana, 18, for the Southport attacks leads many of the papers. Six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar were killed in the attack last July, while eight other children and two adults were injured. The Daily Mail says the sentence is believed to be the longest given to a killer of Rudakubana’s age and quotes judge Mr Justice Goose saying it is unlikely he will ever be released.
The Daily Express quotes the parents of the girls killed in the attack, which took place at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, calling Rudakubana “pure evil” and saying they have been left with “shattered souls”.
Elsie’s mother is quoted by the Daily Mirror telling Rudakubana that she hopes the attack “haunts you every single day”.
The Sun quotes the parents of one of the children who was injured in the attack but survived, named only as Child A, saying: “When we think of Southport we’ll think of the girls. Their bravery. Their strength. He will not win.”
The court heard that, had he been able to, Rudakubana would have killed all 26 children at the class and that it was only thanks to the bravery of other children and adults present that he was stopped, according to the i. The paper quotes one 14-year-old survivor saying: “I knew I was running for my life. I needed to try to get everyone to safety… a room full of defenceless children”.
The Daily Telegraph’s Allison Pearson attended the sentencing and describes the scene inside the court. She says a few of the relatives of the victims had to leave the room as prosecuting barrister Deanna Heer recited the list of wounds inflicted on the girls. She notes it was the first time Rudakubana had been in the same room as the families of his victims, though adds that he missed many of their victim impact statements because he was removed from the court after repeatedly protesting that he felt ill. “Even if he’d stayed, I don’t think he was capable of comprehending the ocean of anguish he’s unleashed,” she writes.
It has emerged that two years before the attack Rudakubana’s parents called the police four times in six months asking for help, according to the Guardian. The paper says that, on one occasion, Rudakubana was caught on a bus with a blade but instead of detaining him, officers took him home and told his mother to keep knives out of his reach.
The Times says the case has prompted calls for legal reforms because Rudakubana’s age at the time of the attack meant he avoided a whole-life sentence. The paper says Patrick Hurley, the Labour MP for Southport, has asked the attorney general to review the sentence, calling it “unduly lenient”. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is quoted saying there is a “strong case” for amending the law to allow whole life orders for under-18s, while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is quoted saying: “We owe it to these innocent young girls and all those affected to deliver the change that they deserve”.
US President Donald Trump has called on oil producers’ group Opec to bring down global prices in order to put pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine, the Financial Times reports. It quotes from an address Trump delivered by video to the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday in which he said: “Right now the price is high enough that that war will continue. You gotta bring down the oil price. That will end that war. You could end that war.” The paper says he also called on central banks around the world to follow the US in lowering their interest rates.
And the Daily Star says “hordes of heat-seeking rats” could invade homes in the coming days to try to escape the 100mph winds expected to be brought by Storm Eowyn.
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