Southport murder trial for accused teen set for January

A British teenager is due to go on trial in January accused of murdering three young girls in a knife attack in northern England in July, a crime that horrified the nation and was followed by days of nationwide rioting.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, is charged with killing the girls aged between six and nine who were at a Taylor Swift dance event in Southport, as well as 10 other counts of attempted murder.

He is also facing charges of producing the deadly poison ricin and the possession of an al Qaeda training manual.

Holding his grey sweatshirt over the bottom of his face - as he has done at previous hearings - the teenager did not speak when asked to confirm his name when he appeared by videolink from London's Belmarsh prison for the hearing at Liverpool Crown Court.

A further hearing will be held on Dec. 12 where he is due to enter a plea to the accusations. Judge Julian Goose told him the trial was listed to begin on Jan. 20 next year and would last between four and six weeks.

British-born Rudakubana was arrested shortly after the attack on the summer vacation event for children in Southport, a quiet seaside town north of Liverpool.

Large disturbances broke out in the town after false reports spread on social media that the suspected killer was a radical Islamist migrant.

The disturbances spread across Britain with attacks on mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers, with prime minister Keir Starmer blaming the riots on far-right thuggery.

More than 1,500 people were arrested, with prosecutors bringing over 1,000 charges as the authorities took tough action to curb the disorder.

At Wednesday's (13) hearing, prosecutor Deanna Heer confirmed that the Southport incident was not being treated as terrorist-related.

(Reuters)