The teenager accused of murdering three girls in Southport in July is now facing two further charges. Axel Rudakubana, 18, already faces three charges of murder, 10 charges of attempted murder and one charge of possession of a knife. But today the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that he has also been charged with the possession of an al-Qaeda training manual and production of the poison ricin.
Rudakubana is due to appear tomorrow at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, with his trial expected to begin in January. Both the ricin and the study of the training manual were found as part of searches of the suspect’s house in the Lancashire village of Banks following the stabbing. Serena Kennedy, Merseyside Police chief constable, said the murder of the three girls in July is not being treated as a terrorist incident. She told a press conference:
At this time, Counter Terrorism Policing has not declared the attack on Monday 29 July a terrorist incident.
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