Southport killer due in court over alleged attack on London prison officer with boiling water

Southport child murderer Axel Rudakubana is set to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday after he was charged with attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to a London prison worker.

The 20-year-old is alleged to have thrown boiling water mixed with sugar at the staff member at Belmarsh prison in south London on May 8.

In an earlier hearing at Westminster magistrates’ court last month, it was heard that “prompt medical attention prevented lasting injury” to the public worker.

Rubakubana is serving a life sentence for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults.

He carried out the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the north-west resort town on July 29, 2024.

It is alleged that two days before the claimed hot water incident in May, Rudakubana threatened to “soak” a female officer outside his cell if she did not pass him a newspaper.

The alleged attack by Axel Rudakubana took place when he was held at HMP Belmarsh

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He is then alleged to have later lobbed an unknown liquid at her through the hatch on his cell door.

He is also charged with two counts of assaulting an emergency worker on May 6 and October 28 last year, and possession of an offensive weapon in prison on June 26 last year.

On the above October date, Rudakubana allegedly punched a male officer who had challenged him.

In June last year, it is claimed that sharpened stone shards – thought to have been prised from the floor of his cell – were found stuck to the underside of a shelving unit.

The defendant was charged on Tuesday, July 28, and the case was sent to the Old Bailey.

Rudakubana is due to appear by videolink from custody at 2pm on Monday at the central London court for a plea and trial preparation hearing before Judge Mark Lucraft KC.

Offenders who present an increased risk and cannot be managed safely in a prison environment because of mental disorders can be moved to secure psychiatric units.

People in these units are treated as patients rather than prisoners.

Broadmoor is the oldest of the UK’s three high-security hospitals and has held some of the UK’s most high-profile criminals, including Ronnie Kray and serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, also known as the Yorkshire Ripper.