Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana has made chilling new threats to prison guards at HMP Belmarsh and is now being unlocked only by five officers in riot gear, matching security measures last used for notorious prisoner Charles Bronson in the 1990s.
The 18-year-old, who murdered three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last July, continues to make violent threats despite being under investigation for allegedly throwing boiling water at a prison officer on 8 May.
A prison source told The Sun that Rudakubana has been making threats since the alleged attack, stating: “Rudakubana is pure evil – and the threats have continued despite his previous attack.”
“Staff fear a repeat and he has nothing to lose,” the source added. “Threats are noted on the system if a prisoner says things like, ‘I will kill you’ or ‘I will smash your face’.”
The source revealed that threats are also recorded when prisoners shout phrases including “Allahu Akbar,” adding that “notes have been kept about Rudakubana – and they all point to him being the most dangerous prisoner in Britain.”
Rudakubana now requires five prison officers wearing riot gear to unlock his cell, an extremely rare security measure typically reserved for the most dangerous inmates in the system.
“It is incredibly rare for someone to be on a five-man unlock,” the source explained. “The last inmate I can remember who was on it was Charles Bronson in the 1990s and he is a much bigger and stronger guy than Rudakubana.”
The teenager has also been banned from all IT and computer systems at the high-security prison, a restriction usually applied only to the most dangerous terrorists.
“Inmates cannot go online, but they do things like order from the canteen and education courses on the intranet-style system,” the source said. “But even that is seen as too dangerous for Rudakubana.”
Following the 8 May incident, in which he allegedly used a kettle in his cell to heat water before throwing it at a guard through the hatch in his door, Rudakubana’s privileges have been reduced to “minimum legal entitlements.”
The prison officer was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure and discharged the same day. Reports suggest Rudakubana’s supervision had been downgraded in the weeks before the attack, having previously been held in a healthcare unit under round-the-clock monitoring.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick called the alleged attack the “third astonishing security failure at a top security prison,” warning that “a prison officer will be killed if the Government does not get a grip.
Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers Association, questioned why dangerous inmates like Rudakubana receive the same privileges as other prisoners.
We have to base everything on risk and don’t give access to things with which they can attack staff,” he told The Sun. “We have to have super-max security units, based on the American system, for inmates like him.”
The incident occurred just weeks after Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi attacked four prison officers with boiling oil and homemade weapons at HMP Frankland in April.
Rudakubana was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 52 years in January for murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at the Hart Space dance studio in Southport on 29 July 2024.
He also pleaded guilty to ten counts of attempted murder, production of the deadly poison ricin, and possession of an al-Qaeda training manual.
The source concluded that Rudakubana “is completely unrepentant and as far from being rehabilitated as you can get,” describing him as holding the same threat level as Charles Bronson, who has spent most of his adult life in prison for violent offences.
The Ministry of Justice data shows that assaults on staff in adult prisons in England and Wales reached 10,605 in 2024, the highest level in a decade and nearly three times the 3,640 recorded in 2014.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Violence in prison will not be tolerated and we will always push for the strongest possible punishment for attacks on our hardworking staff.”
The Prison Service declined to comment on specific security arrangements.
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