Attorney general to review 'unduly lenient' sentence of Southport child killer Axel Rudakubana

The 52-year prison sentence of Axel Rudakubana is to be reviewed following complaints it was "unduly lenient".

Southport's MP Patrick Hurley was among those calling for a longer term on Thursday after the 18-year-old was jailed for murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in July last year.

The Labour backbencher said: "In my view, the sentence passed is unduly lenient. The crimes he committed were horrific and natural justice demands he spends the rest of his life behind bars.

"I have therefore made a request to the attorney general to have the sentence reviewed urgently, with a view to making sure he is never released. My community deserves nothing less."

The Attorney General's Office later confirmed the case had been referred under the unduly lenient sentence (ULS) scheme, which requires just one request in order for punishments handed out in court to be reconsidered.

A spokesperson said: "There is a high threshold for a successful ULS reference. The sentence must be not just lenient but unduly so, for example if the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances of the offence."

Attorney General Lord Hermer and Solicitor General Lucy Rigby now have 28 days to decide whether to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal for further consideration.

Rudakubana was sentenced after earlier pleading guilty to the murders, along with the attempted murders of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

He was also convicted of having a knife, which he had bought on Amazon, on the date of the killings, production of the deadly poison ricin, and possessing information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

His 52-year minimum term is thought to be the longest imposed on a killer of his age. Once the minimum term is reached, he would be subjected to a Parole Board review before he could ever be considered for release.

Because he carried out the crimes just nine days short of his 18th birthday, it means by law he could not be sentenced to a whole life order, which would mean he would never be released from jail.

This tariff is usually only imposed on criminals aged 21 or over but can be considered for those aged 18 to 20 in exceptional circumstances.

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Describing the minimum sentence as "substantial", Mr Justice Goose, sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, said he would serve "almost the whole of his life in custody".

He added: "I consider at this time that it is likely that he will never be released and that he will be in custody for all his life."

The judge also said he "must accept" that the prosecution had made it clear the attack did not meet the legal definition of an act of terrorism because there was no evidence of attempting to advance a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.

A parent of one of the children who survived the attack, who cannot be named, told The Sun the crimes were so horrific the killer should "rot in jail" and the "law needs changing".

Mr Hurley said he supported demands for a law change, as did Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who said there was a "strong case" for amending the law to allow for whole life orders to be imposed on people aged under 18 in some cases.

Downing Street declined to comment when earlier asked about the proposal.

(c) Sky News 2025: Attorney general to review 'unduly lenient' sentence of Southport child killer Axel Rudakubana