Axel Rudakubana, the 19-year-old who murdered three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, has been transferred from Belmarsh prison to Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital after clinicians concluded he could not be safely managed in a prison environment, sources have confirmed.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said the move was made following an independent clinical assessment under the Mental Health Act. Rudakubana was jailed for life in January 2025 with a minimum term of 52 years for the "sadistic" murders of Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine. He also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults.
“Axel Rudakubana moved to Broadmoor after clinicians ruled he could not be safely held in prison.”
The transfer is likely to anger many of the victims' families, who will argue he was assessed as fit to stand trial. People in psychiatric units such as Broadmoor are treated as patients rather than prisoners, though the MoJ stressed he will remain locked up and is unlikely to ever be released. The cost of his incarceration will also rise: according to the Centre for Mental Health, a secure hospital bed costs around £270,000 a year, compared with £97,740 for a prisoner at Belmarsh.
Mark Fairhurst, of the POA union representing prison and psychiatric hospital workers, 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 give him and even more unjustified is the taxpayer actually paying him benefits because he is now classed as mentally unwell. This is a sickening development."
Under the Mental Health Act, the MoJ is likely to have had no choice but to accept doctors' recommendations. Rudakubana must be transferred back to prison when he no longer requires treatment. His sentence remains unchanged, and he will serve every day of his 52-year term.
The move comes after Rudakubana allegedly attacked a prison officer with boiling water at Belmarsh in May 2025, sparking an internal inquiry. Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where he was treated between 2019 and 2023, described a "lack of empathy combined with a 'fascination with violence' and neurodiversity" as a "really toxic mix".
Broadmoor, in Berkshire, is the oldest of England and Wales's three high-security hospitals and has held some of the UK's most notorious criminals, including the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and Ronnie Kray. The Southport Public Inquiry continues to hear evidence about Rudakubana's past mental health conditions.