Southport killer Axel Rudakubana 'threw boiling water at Belmarsh prison officer'

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana allegedly threw boiling water mixed with sugar at a prison officer, a court heard.

During the alleged incident on May 8 last year, Rudakubana threw it through a hatch on his cell door at Belmarsh, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday.

Two days prior, 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 October 28 2025 the prosecutor said.

Ms Pattison added that in June last year, Rudakubana had allegedly sharpened stone shards at the prison, “seemingly prised from the floor of the defendant’s cell”, which were found stuck to the underside of a shelving unit.

She went on: “When questioned by a prison officer, he said that he was keeping them for self-defence.”

Rudakubana claimed after the alleged boiling water attack that prison officers had been poisoning his food, the court heard.

He is charged with attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, two counts of assaulting an emergency worker and possession of an offensive weapon in prison.

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.

He carried out the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 2024.

Rudakubana appeared via video link from Broadmoor psychiatric hospital and had his head rested on his hand during the hearing, during which he was not asked to enter pleas.