The transfer of Southport killer Axel Rudakubana from Belmarsh prison to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital has been condemned as “another cruel blow” to the families of the three young girls he murdered.
Rudakubana, 19, was moved under the Mental Health Act after officials approved the decision on behalf of ministers, the Ministry of Justice confirmed. The relocation was first reported by the Guardian on Thursday.
“Southport killer Axel Rudakubana transferred to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, sparking anger from victims' families.”
Next Wednesday marks two years since the Cardiff-born attacker launched a knife rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on 29 July 2024. Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were killed; eight other children and two adults were injured.
Handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years, Rudakubana had been held in category A prison Belmarsh – nicknamed “Hellmarsh” by former inmate Jeffrey Archer – since his conviction in January 2025. While there, he allegedly assaulted a prison officer by hurling boiling water from a kettle in his cell.
Now he will be held in a new building at Broadmoor, opened in 2019, which features landscaped gardens, a cafe and classrooms. A former patient described a “swimming pool, gym, metal workshop, ceramics workshop, wood workshop, electrical shop, kitchen and gardens” in a 2024 documentary.
Duncan Harding, a consultant adolescent psychiatrist who worked at Broadmoor in the early 2000s, said: “It absolutely is a therapeutic place, but it will still feel like a punishment. The idea that he may have ‘manipulated the system’ simply isn’t possible. He would have been assessed thoroughly, and the case discussed very carefully before any transfer.”
But lawyers for some victims’ families have protested, arguing Rudakubana “played the system” by securing hospital treatment. The Mirror’s Voice of the Mirror column said: “Compassion for mental illness cannot come at the expense of justice. Ministers must guarantee that he receives only the medically necessary treatment and is returned to prison as soon as doctors permit.”
Whitehall sources told the Guardian that patients in secure hospital units cost more than £300,000 per year each, compared with about £60,000 for other prisoners.
An MoJ spokesperson said: “The families of those murdered and injured in Southport will be in this country’s heart forever and our thoughts remain with them. Any decision to transfer an offender is made following an independent, clinical assessment, under the Mental Health Act. This transfer does not change his sentence – which remains at 52 years – and of which he will serve every single day.”
Rudakubana will remain at Broadmoor until assessed fit to return to prison.