in terms of this breaking news that has just come through in the past few minutes, bring us up—to—date? it the past few minutes, bring us urn-date?— up-to-date? it has taken everyone _ up-to-date? it has taken everyone by _ up-to-date? it has taken everyone by surprise. - up-to-date? it has taken - everyone by surprise. everybody was expecting a full trial, lasting to weeks to take place. this was the first day of that trial. it was due to only be held up to involve itself in the selection of a jury. before that could take place, the charges had to be read out to axel rudakubana. there was a delay of about one hour in court, it was due to start at about 10.30. court, it was due to start at about10.30. at 11.30 we court, it was due to start at about 10.30. at 11.30 we were allowed into court, into a special onyx setup because so many journalists wanted special onyx setup because so manyjournalists wanted to be there. when that started, it became very clear, very

quickly, that rudakubana was changing his plea is. as the charges were read out, the clerk of the court said you are changing your plea to guilty. this was accepted by him. throughout this, rudakubana has refused to speak in court. he intimated that was the case. that is what happened with every single charge. let's go through the charges, because it is important. he was charged and convicted of the murder of bebe king, six years old. elsie dot stancombe was seven years old. and alice da silva aguiar was nine years old. 0n old. and alice da silva aguiar was nine years old. on top of murdering those three children at a dance class, eight more children of the dance class were also injured. five of them were also injured. five of them were critically injured. he was charged with the attempted murder of all of them, as well as two mccraw adults, one of the people taking the class, and a passer—by who came to try and a passer—by who came to try and help. he was convicted of the attempted murder of them. he was charged with possessing

a curved kitchen knife, and also found guilty, by admitting it, of production of a toxic agent, rice and. this is a complicated charge, so i will read it from my notes. possession of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing a act of terrorism, namely a pdf computerfile a act of terrorism, namely a pdf computer file entitled military studies and a jihad against the tyrants, the al-qaeda training manual. he was charged with that offence in october and pleaded guilty today. as the trial got under way, it became clear as the charger started to change that he was pleading guilty to all of these. afterwards, he went and sat down in the dock. in fact, he never stood up, i don't think. and mr dost shot justice goose says you can hear

what i am saying, you have pleaded guilty to every charge on this indictment. you will be sentenced on thursday. it is inevitable that the sentence will mean a life sentence equivalent. in the meantime, you will go to the officers. taking down. at that point, the judge carried on. this was a really important thing, and it shows just how really important thing, and it showsjust how much really important thing, and it shows just how much of a surprise this was. the judge said, i am conscious that the families are not here today, because they had assumed the case would open tomorrow morning, the trial would begin then. we had all assumed that, he said. they were not here to hear him enter his pleas. 0ur hear him enter his pleas. our apologies to them. that is the court apologising to the families of the children that were murdered and those that he tried to attack and kill as well. he said that today was thought to be a day when the jury thought to be a day when the jury was sworn in, when legal argument and discussion about the case would take place.

instead, axel rudakubana came into court, 18 years old, a man from banks in lancashire, pleaded guilty to all of the charges put to him. obviously a very distressing _ charges put to him. obviously a very distressing case, _ charges put to him. obviously a very distressing case, and - charges put to him. obviously a very distressing case, and it - very distressing case, and it had repercussions across the country. in terms of what happened in court, judith moritz was reporting from court, and she writes that axel rudakubana had his face covered with a covid mask, he refused to stand and speak his name and answered very quietly, and muffled, guilty, to each of those counts that you outlined. just back in december, he pleaded not guilty, there was pleas were entered on the behalf of him for charges of murder and attempted murder, a most distressing case? he murder and attempted murder, a most distressing case?— most distressing case? he has shown throughout _ most distressing case? he has shown throughout the - most distressing case? he has shown throughout the whole i shown throughout the whole legal process disdain for everything involved. he refused to stand, he refused to take

part. at one hearing i saw him at, he rocked gently from side to side, but still would not speak to the court. that is his right to do that. there have been cases in the past where people have actually refused to turn up in court. today, this was where he could not hide any more. he had to be there in court, and he was brought into the court, refused to speak, and, as you say, mumbled the changes of plea, which were then relayed by the court itself, by the clerk of the court, to the judge, itself, by the clerk of the court, to thejudge, that he was changing his plea on each and every count, and was convicted of those. i have to say, the level of surprise at this, on friday, merseyside police, which has been dealing with this, held a briefing for journalists, it went on for more than two mccraw hours. there was full discussion. at that point, there was no idea whatsoever that this was going to happen, that he was going to change his plea. after an hour of legal argument on legal discussion between his defence

team and the prosecution, and thejudge, this is what is happening in court today. where this leaves the families, the families were not here in court, they were not here to hear what was happening. in some way to be part of the process. that has taken them by surprise. thejudge has surprise. the judge has accepted surprise. thejudge has accepted that, and apologise to them that it was the case. he didn't know what was going to happen either. in some ways, it adds to the pain of this, that this isjust so much adds to the pain of this, that this is just so much agony for the families. southport is a small town, it sits on the north—west coast of england, and it is a very tranquil place. i say that mildly. it's very quiet. everybody knows people there. in the middle of the town, in one of the theatres and the civic centre in the town, there is a book of remembrance. it is so full of people who just travels to the

town since last summer and put their names in. there are flowers left outside every day, there are flowers being left there. this is a town still hurting, still grieving. now these changes plea, it means that they not have to go through the pain of hearing exactly what happened on that day. it also means that rudakubana, in some ways, gets away with having to confront the horrors of what he did last summer. thank you for bringing us up to date on breaking development, within the last few moments. as an was saying, it came as a surprise to the court, and the parents of those three children who were stabbed to death in southport, they were not there when this 18—year—old started to plead guilty. thejudge, as nick was saying, apologising to the parents that they were not able to be there, to witness that moment. it arguably caught

the court slightly off—guard. a lot to discuss, given how significant the case was andy repercussions, we saw the fallout following the deaths of these three little girls. let's cross to daniel sandford, who joins us from the newsroom. we are reacting to this breaking news story. i know you have been monitoring this case particularly closely. your reaction, initially. also, given the charges that this man was charged with, the actual incident within southport was not considered a terrorist attack? i not considered a terrorist attack? . , not considered a terrorist attack? ., , ., ., “ attack? i have been looking into axel — attack? i have been looking into axel rudakubana - attack? i have been looking into axel rudakubana since | attack? i have been looking - into axel rudakubana since the day after he carried out the attacks, even before he had been named publicly as the man responsible. we have been able to find out quite a lot about his background, but we have also got some quite big gaps,

because no public authority was prepared to really discuss his case with us in advance of the trial, forfear of case with us in advance of the trial, for fear of details getting out into the public domain and prejudicing the jury. i should say it is possible sometimes for public authorities to brief journalists in advance of cases, in the knowledge we will not publish while the jury sitting on the case, but that has not happened in this case. axel rudakubana was born in wales to two mccraw parents who had moved here from rwanda. when he was a young boy, his parents moved to the southport area, and for much of his life they lived just outside southport, just over the border in lancashire. axel rudakubana was quite reclusive at times. we have seen pictures of him in acting classes, where he seems acting classes, where he seems a little bit set back from the rest of the group. we know that he took part in this doctor who 15