Southport killer Axel Rudakubana accused of throwing boiling water mixed with sugar at prison officer

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana allegedly threw boiling water mixed with sugar at a prison officer and punched another while at HMP Belmarsh.

Rudakubana was said to have thrown the burning liquid through a hatch on his cell door on 8 May last year.

Westminster Magistrates' Court heard on Monday that "prompt medical attention prevented lasting injury" to the officer.

A couple of days earlier, Rudakubana allegedly threatened to "soak" a female officer outside his cell if she did not pass him a newspaper and then threw an "unknown liquid" at her, causing no damage, prosecutor Catherine Pattison said.

Rudakubana also allegedly "punched a male officer who had challenged the defendant when he had attempted to walk past officers seeking to establish if he had taken certain medication", on 28 October 2025, the prosecutor said.

Ms Pattison said that in June last year, Rudakubana had allegedly sharpened stone shards at the facility, "seemingly prised from the floor of the defendant's cell", which were found stuck to the underside of a shelving unit.

She added: "When questioned by a prison officer, he said that he was keeping them for self-defence."

Rudakubana claimed after the alleged boiling water incident that prison officers had been poisoning his food, the court was told.

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He has been charged with attempting to cause grievous bodily harm in May 2025, assaulting an emergency worker in October 2025, and possession of an offensive weapon in prison in June 2025.

He was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on 19 October.

Rudakubana, now 20, was given 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.

The attack took place at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July 2024.

In July this year, the Ministry of Justice confirmed he was transferred from high security Belmarsh prison to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.

Broadmoor, in Berkshire, 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.

Under the Mental Health Act, officials acting for the justice secretary must accept the advice of clinical professionals to transfer inmates to a secure facility.

(c) Sky News 2026: Southport killer Axel Rudakubana accused of throwing boiling water mixed with sugar at p