LIVERPOOL: A British boy on Monday pleaded guilty to the killing of three girls in a stabbing spree that sparked the UK’s most violent riots in a decade after rumours spread that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker.

Authorities later blamed far-right agitators for fuelling the violence by sharing the misinformation.

On the opening day of his trial, Axel Rudakubana, 18, admitted murdering the three girls — Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, — at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in a seaside resort near Liverpool on July 29, 2024.

The government said it would hold an inquiry into the atrocity after his admission to guilt.

The stabbings sent shockwaves across the UK, triggering unrest and riots in more than a dozen English and Northern Irish towns and cities.

In fact, Rudakubana was born in Cardiff in Wales to parents of Rwandan origin, and lived in Banks, a village northeast of Southport.

The Guardian newspaper reported that Rudakubana, the son of devout Christians who had moved to Britain from Rwanda, had been referred to Prevent over concerns that he was looking at online material about US school massacres and past terrorist attacks. But he was not judged to be a terrorism risk, the paper said.

Before the court, Rudakubana admitted a total of 16 charges, including the three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and one count of possessing a blade.

He also admitted production of a biological toxin, ricin, as well as possessing an Al Qaeda training manual, although the attack was not treated as an act of terrorism.Wearing a grey tracksuit and a surgical mask, the boy refused to stand in court and did not speak except to say the word “guilty” when the charges were put to him.

Hours later, the government announced there would be a public inquiry, with PM Keir Starmer saying it was “a moment of trauma for the nation when there are grave questions to answer as to how the state failed in its ultimate duty to protect these young girls”.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2025