Boy, 17, sentenced for copycat Southport attack plan

A teenager who had an "obsession" with Southport killer Axel Rudakubana and wanted to carry out a copycat attack has avoided a custodial sentence.

The boy, now 17, who cannot be named because of his age, rang 999 in August last year and said he wanted to "re-enact Axel", Liverpool Crown Court heard.

The teenager pleaded guilty earlier this year to four counts of possessing information likely to be useful to a person planning or committing an act of terrorism.

The documents, found on his phone, included an Al Qaeda training manual which was also possessed by Rudakubana and instructions for preparing ricin, the poison found in the killer's home after his attack.

Judge Neil Flewitt KC told the court it had been a "difficult decision" as he sentenced the boy to a youth rehabilitation order which will last three years and provide "intensive supervision and surveillance".

He was also made subject to a three-year criminal behaviour order.

The judge said: "I think that a youth rehabilitation order will be more helpful to you and will provide more protection for the public than keeping you in custody."

The court was told the boy, from Merseyside, described himself as an "axelcel" - a reference to the term incel, or involuntary celibate, and Rudakubana, who murdered three girls in a knife attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 2024.

In December last year, while in custody after his arrest, the boy was recorded as saying that as soon as he got out he would "go into a primary school" and "little girls" would be his first victims, the judge said.

The white teenager appeared to laugh and put his head in his hands as Adam Birkby, prosecuting, read out a note found on the boy's phone in which he described Rudakubana as a "hero" and said: "I love him. He's the one person I look up to. I felt like he was speaking to me.

"I felt like all these isolated incidents were speaking to me to act up. He was me. He is the black version of me."

The court heard that the boy, then aged 16, told a 999 operator on 6 August last year that he had planned to re-enact the Southport attack on the first anniversary but was not able to find an event close to his home.

He said the "idea of violence" captivated him and he had watched "a load of Isis videos".

When police attended his home he spoke about plans to commit a mass casualty attack and of his admiration of Rudakubana, who he said had a similar interest in "genocides and that".

Birkby said the teenager visited Southport in May last year and told a contact on TikTok: "77 days until Axel 2."

He also researched other killers, including Nicholas Prosper, who killed his mother and siblings in Luton in September 2024.

The court heard the boy also referred to himself as a "spergcel" - a reference to someone whose inceldom is partially derived from Asperger's syndrome.

He was twice referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme, the court was told.

In 2021, when his school raised concerns, a panel concluded his behaviour was driven by autism rather than ideological motivation after he said he no longer agreed with racist comments he made when angry and denied believing a terror group was good.

He was referred to the programme again in May last year after reporting a desire to convert to Islam and speaking about the Southport stabbings and Manchester Arena bombing.

His referral was still being processed when he was arrested.

In June that year he told a friend on TikTok about the referral and said he hoped his case would be closed like Rudakubana's with "no clear ideology".

Philip Astbury, defending, said that for some time before the incident the boy had been struggling with his mental health and spent "far too much time sitting at a computer terminal".

A charge of making a threat to kill was ordered to lie on the file.

Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's counter-terrorism division, said: "This was a deeply concerning case involving a young person who had been drawn towards extreme and violent ideology, with the potential for very serious harm."

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