tonight at 10: the teenager who murdered three young girls in a dance class has been told he'll spend at least 52 years in prison. six—year—old bebe king, seven—year—old elsie dot stancombe,

and nine—year—old alice da silva aggiar were stabbed to death last summer. the police released this footage of axel rudakubana on the taxi ride he took to the venue in southport where the holiday class was being held. i'm sure that rudakubana had a settled and determined intention to carry out these offences and that, had he been able to, he would have killed each and every child, all 26 of them, as well as any adults who got in his way. the prime minister has called the attacks one of the most harrowing moments in our country's history. also on the programme tonight... a rare red weather warning for northern ireland and central scotland, as storm eowyn approaches. on bbc london... the metropolitan police is brought out of special measures, but there are warnings that there's still work to do.

on newsnight at 10:30 tonight, we'll bring you fresh insight on the stories of the day with big interviews and our regular panel of newsnighters. and of course, look at what the papers are saying about tomorrow's news. hello, good evening. the teenager who murdered three little girls and tried to kill ten others at a dance class in southport last year has been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum of 52 years. the court heard graphic details of the horror and appalling injuries that axel rudakubana, who's now 18, inflicted on the children and on two adults. six—year—old bebe king, seven—year—old elsie dot stancombe and nine—year—old alice da silva aguiar all died in the attack. rudakubana stabbed one of the children more than 100 times. he wasn't in court to hear the judge hand down his sentence. he had to be removed from the dock after repeatedly disrupting proceedings, shouting out that he was feeling ill, in front of some of the families who were watching from

the public gallery. many of them left the courtroom, unable to listen to details of what he did on that day lastjuly. some of the injuries he inflicted were so horrific that we're not reporting all the details. judith moritz was at liverpool crown court — and much of her report is very upsetting. their lives had barely begun. bebe, elsie dot and alice. gap toothed and smiling. three rays ofjoy and innocence. how can their loss ever be measured? a whole town mourns them. the world now knows southport for all the wrong reasons. but it's their parents, of course, whose pain is most acute. like alice's mum, alexandra. she said, "alice was our purpose

for living, so what do we do now? our home holds family memories and sometimes we call out alice's name, only to be met by a shot to the heart." the parents were asked to try and put things into words for the court, as the man who murdered their children were sentenced, but elsie dot�*s mum, jenny, was clear about her feelings. she said, "we are not going to stand here and list everything you have taken away from us because we refuse to give you the satisfaction of hearing it. we will not let you know anything about her because you don't deserve to know the extraordinary person she was." and it's notjust the children. they were at a class being run by yoga teacher leanne lucas. she stood up in court today and spoke of her trauma. she said, "he targeted us because we were women and girls, vulnerable and easy prey. foralice, elsie, bebe, heidi and the surviving girls, i am surviving for you." it is six months since that

terrible day in southport. today, for the first time, the full detail of what happened has been told, including information about the teenager who unleashed such hell. he didn't want to be recognised — hood up, mask on. axel rudakubana skulks in the back of a taxi. he'd booked it to take him to hart street in southport. having arrived there, the driver asks him how he wants to pay. with cash or card, mate? but he jumps out with other things on his mind. the teenager only had one intent, looking for the taylor swift dance class. first he tries the wrong door and then calmly wanders through the one he wants, before disappearing up the stairs towards the children. it was ten minutes before the police arrived to a scene of carnage.

two adults and 11 children stabbed, and three little girls brutally murdered. it was of such extreme violence, of the upmost and exceptionally high seriousness, that it is difficult to comprehend why it was done. i am sure that rudakubana had a settled and determined intention to carry out these offences and, that had he been able to, he would have killed each and every child, all 26 of them, as well as any adults that got in his way. having arrested rudakubana, it wasn't long before police went to his house. inside they found chaos. in the lounge, a knife on the sofa and electronic devices full of images of war and genocide. and there was more in his bedroom. under the bed a machete, a bow and a set of arrows and then a find which brought the search to a sudden stop. ricin, the deadly poison, and the equipment to make it.

despite all that, the police say that because there is no evidence rudakubana subscribe to a particular political or religious ideology, the stabbing hasn't been declared a terrorist incident. but it has now emerged that he had previously been referred to the government's counterterrorism prevent programme three times because of material he had viewed online. the prosecution have made it clear that these proceedings were not acts of terrorism within the meaning of the terrorism legislation because there is no evidence that rudakubana's purpose was to advance political, religious, racial or ideological cause. i must accept that conclusion. however, in myjudgment, his culpability for this extreme level of violence is equivalent in its seriousness to terrorist murders, whatever his purpose. the taylor swift dance class was built online but it's not known what rudakubana's reason was for targeting it particularly. do you know anything about why he chose that event? my hypothesis all the way through this was that obviously

he had seen it advertised somewhere. i don't know why he picked it and that is one of the questions that families desperately want answering. why? why hart space ? why an event where it was just young ladies, just young girls? was it because of their vulnerability? that piece of the evidence i have not been able to find throughout this investigation. axel rudakubana has never shown any remorse. 0n the contrary, at the police station after his arrest, he said, "i'm glad those kids are dead. it makes me happy." and today, here at court, he was also offensive. having refused to speak at past hearings, this time his shouting disrupted things so much the judge ordered him to be removed. it meant the teenager wasn't there when he was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years, thought to be the longest for a killer of his age, but declared too lenient by southport�*s mp, who has asked the attorney general

to review it. crowds lined the streets outside court, waiting for axel rudakubana to be driven away. barely out of childhood himself, now he starts his adulthood as a reviled mass murderer who has left acute distress, profound loss and a lot of questions in his wake. judith moritz, bbc news, liverpool. before axel rudakubana's case came to court, the authorities revealed a string of contacts with the teenager ? all of which will now be examined by a public inquiry. bbc news has learned that that his neighbours received several parcels ? believed to be the ingredients for ricin. 0ur uk editor ed thomas has been looking at rudakubana's background. in less than five years, how did axel rudakubana go from a schoolboy to a child killer obsessed with extremism and death?

this was his classmate at the range high school. what would you say to him? he was quiet. he never spoke about himself. he didn't want to be identified. he recognises the classroom and rudakubana in this footage, being pushed back by other children. what he doesn't recognise is what he became. he looks ruthless now. he looks completely unnatural to what i used to know him as. he seems crazy in that picture. he remembers him being expelled in 2019 after ringing childline to say he was bringing a knife into school. he also witnessed rudakubana's return weeks later to attack pupils. i just hear yelling. i quickly turn and see a hockey stick in the air. i saw him get taken down by the deputy head. when you found out axel rudakubana had murdered three young children, what was your reaction? seems insane to me that he's able to go out and perform such a horrific crime, and almost like it's went under the radar.

but rudakubana's spiral was not off the radar. inside his home, he collected these knives. police say he downloaded an al-qaeda document, researched school massacres. and a week before the southport attacks, he called this taxi to take him to the range high school. this doorbell footage shows his father pleading with the driver not to take him before axel rudakubana gets out of the car. i feel physically sick... caroline lived next door to axel rudakubana. what was he like with you? it's hard to interact with somebody that just stares at you. there was no interaction from him. he just... he would stare at you. caroline verified these whatsapp messages we obtained — neighbours complaining about parcels being sent to their homes that they believe were meant for axel rudakubana. in this one, his father replies, "these were the last orders. he will use our address next time." 0ne neighbour told caroline they

remembered seeds being ordered — the seeds later used to make ricin. well, he was clearly ordering seeds and having them delivered to a neighbour, possibly a decoy, possibly so that it couldn't be traced to the address that he was living at. rudakubana was known to the police, the courts, the youth justice system, mental health services and youth services. a teenager obsessed with mass murder. three times he was referred to the government's anti—radicalisation prevent programme. but despite all these warnings, there was a catastrophic failure to identify the real risk he posed. you think you've seen everything, but you don't expect it to be children? joe, a retired medic, spoke to us before the court case. in the aftermath of the southport attacks alongside police, paramedics and neighbours, she cared for seven injured children. did we...

did... did you... did we do enough? and we did. you can't put your thoughts into the thought of the man that did what he did. everyone pulled together that day, and i don't want anyone thinking that nothing was done, because everything was done by everybody. rudakubana has never explained his actions. police say there are ongoing investigations. it will now take a public inquiry to establish the truth, and who else might bear some responsibility for this most terrible of crimes. ed thomas, bbc news, southport. well, the attack last summer led to rioting in southport and across others parts of england, fuelled by disinformation. and it led to calls for changes to sentencing laws, online knife sales and the how we deal with extremists. 0ur uk correspondent daniel sandford joins me now from liverpool crown court.

daniel, to what extent might this awful event lead to real change? this was a horror that took lives, destroyed lives and caused the worst riot scenes for more than a decade which led to hundreds of people being jailed and there was a debate about how we control the disinformation that because those riots and also a debate about what information the police should put into the public domain in the public interest without prejudicing the chance of someone having a fair trial, but obviously the horrors of the murders where the much more serious event of the summer and those murders, despite the huge sentence passed today, have already led to a debate about whether a whole life in order, which means someone would never be released from prison, should be extended to someone under the age of 18 and the conservative party are saying that should be under discussion. the measures have also led to the government bringing forward proposals about how to control the sale of knives online further

because of course the weapons of mass murder in this case were bought on amazon, but i do think the biggest changes are likely to come with how the police and the mental health services deal with people who have become obsessed with violence. do we somehow expand the cat might prevent and counter extremism programme to deal with people who have no ideology? should there be a different programme to deal with people like that? —— do we somehow expand the prevent and counter extremism programme. and how do we control the access young people have to these horrific images of violence and information about how to create violence which they can currently access online, questions for the tech industry. access online, questions for the tech industry-— access online, questions for the tech industry. thank you, daniel sandford. at the heart of this tragedy are the three little girls who were killed — alice da silva aguiar, elsie dot stancombe and bebe king. bebe's mother paid tribute to her daughter in a statement

through her solicitor, after the sentencing. "we will always live our lives in the shadows of this heinous crime," she said. "bebe was full ofjoy, light and love and it is this that should be her legacy." statements were also read in court from the families of alice and elsie, and from a number of those who were injured in the attack, including the dance class instructor leanne lucas. this is some of what they've said. this is from the parents of alice, who was nine. "alice was a beautiful girl, perfect in every way. she was a strong and confident preteen with a world of dreams and unlimited potential. 0ur bond was very strong, the love in the family was pure. life was bliss. 0ur life went with her. he took us, too. six months of continuous pain and a lifetime sentence of it. that's what we got then and the life we live now. 0ur dream girl has been taken away in such a horrible, undeserving way that it shattered our souls."

the family of seven—year—old elsie said this evening... "as a family, we'll now take our time in privacy to come to terms with the events of the last six months and to support elsie's younger sister. we are determined to continue elsie's love, kindness and passion for life. elsie's name will only ever be associated with love and happiness." and in a victim impact statement read to the court, her mother addressed her daughter's killer. "you know what you've done. we hope the weight of that knowledge haunts you every single day. if we had been there, this would never have happened and the outcome would have been vastly different. what you did wasn't only cruel and pure evil, it was the act of a coward. though you have stolen our daughter from us, you won't take away our determination to honour her memory. we will carry her love and positivity forward, no matter how much pain you have caused."

leanne lucas, who organised the dance class, was in court today. she read out her statement herself. this is part of it... "as a 36—year—old woman, i can't enter a public place without considering how i'll get out in the event of an emergency. as a 36—year—old woman, i can't give myself compassion or accept praise. how can i live knowing i survived when children died? on that day, i received several injuries that have not only affected me physically but also mentally. i, as do the girls, have scars we cannot un—see. scars we can't move on from. visual daily reminders of not only what he has done to us but a stark reminder of what others can still do to us." we've learnt tonight from the family of elsie dot stancombe that the king, and the prince and princess of wales have visited them privately,

as has the prime minister. and today sir keir starmer called the attacks one of the most harrowing moments in our country's history. 0ur political editor chris mason is here now. chris — how do you reflect on the reaction of poltical leaders today? they have been trying to find the words to match the magnitude of this moment. as you'd expect there's been a universal expression of horror, you mentioned that the prime minister's reflections. alongside horror, also articulations of anger, the sense of a failure to stop this happening and argument as well. kemi badenoch has said it's absurd there has been a debate about the sale of knives online, instead she said the focus should be on extreme ideologies and violence. nigel farage said the director of prosecution should resign because in

his view they should have been seen as described as a terror attack and there are so many troubling questions tonight. why were so many warning signs about the murderous behaviour not acted upon? was there a space for greater public candour from the authorities about what they knew and saying that publicly sooner? do the laws defining terrorism need to change? the prime minister has said the failures of state institutions leap off the page and there will be a public inquiry to look into this. i think today bears comparison with the kind of questions society asks itself after the dunblane school massacre back in 1996, the horrifying death of baby p, the baby in north london who died at 17 months old after abuse, a sense of failure from individuals and agencies to prevent it. this feels like just such a landmark moment obvious, profound reflection but a real desire for change, too. thank you.

and paddy 0'connell will have more on the southport attack on newsnight on bbc two shortly. yes, 52 years is too short so critics of the sentence and we will speak live to the local priest who knows the family is well. also in other news, it is rachel reeves on the cusp of changing her plans? she has made a tweak tonight. live debate on newsnight from half past ten on bbc two and on iplayer and bbc news. thank you. the rest of the tonight's news. the met office has issued a rare red weather alert for northern ireland and the central belt of scotland, for storm eye—owyn tomorrow. as you can see it's a giant storm — affected areas could see gusts of 100mph and there is a danger to life. an amber warning is in place for the rest of scotland, northern england and north wales and yellow weather warnings will cover

the rest of the uk — with heavy rain forecast overnight for wales and the south west. in a moment we'll talk to our scotland correspondent, lorna gordon, but first to our ireland correspondent chris page who's on the atlantic coast at westport. chris, schools are closed tomorrow. yes, that's right. it is here on the west coast of ireland that storm eowyn will make landfall after crossing the atlantic ocean. conditions are already bad, as you can see but even this wind and rain is pretty minor compared to what is coming. the red warning indicating a danger to life will come into force in southern counties of ireland at two o'clock in the morning. already in cork city for example, people have been putting up sandbags to protect home and businesses. here in county mayo the warning comes in at

four o'clock and in northern ireland at seven o'clock. there has never before been a red warning in force across the whole island of ireland, that means all schools will be closed, public transport will not be running, people want to stay indoors, that is the way stay safe. let's head to lorna gordon. tell us about the picture where you are, lorna. . ~' about the picture where you are, lorna. ~ ., ., ., lorna. ten o'clock tomorrow morning is when the — lorna. ten o'clock tomorrow morning is when the red _ lorna. ten o'clock tomorrow morning is when the red warning _ lorna. ten o'clock tomorrow morning is when the red warning kicks in - is when the red warning kicks in here. the winds start hitting south, south—west right across the central belt, that is an area home to around 3 million people, more than half of scotland's population and includes its two biggest cities, edinburgh and glasgow. the danger two life comes from flying debris and falling trees and police warned it will be hazardous to be out and about. they haveissued hazardous to be out and about. they have issued an advisory saying they don't want to see people on the

roads, people travelling in the affected areas. there are also school closures, hundreds of thousands of pupils are expected to miss their classes for the day. the disruption tomorrow will be significant. disruption tomorrow will be significant-— disruption tomorrow will be siunificant. ., ., ., president trump has told the world economic forum in switzerland that companies should make their products in america if they want to avoid tariffs. he spoke to business leaders via videolink from washington, promising manufacturers the lowest taxes of any nation on earth if they produced their goods in the us. 0ur economics editor, faisal islam, is in davos and was listening to the address. faisal, how did this go down? jane, this woods donald trump's re—acquaintance with the world stage and it was incredible speech with consequences for the world, the world economy and people's livelihoods. two worlds colliding, america's first world and the world

economy here in davos. and president trump seems to come out supreme. he said, as you said, that companies in this should move their operations, factories to the united states, set out a seductive approach in terms of the taxes and the trade. but he also had a menacing subtext in if they didn't do that, imports into the us would face tariffs of hundreds of billions of dollars or trillions of dollars and that can only mean a universal tariff. we thought that issue had been parked. if that happens, it could affect britain. ministers tonight trying to force a case that the us does not suffer from trade with the uk put to donald trump. the un says the need for aid in gaza is "staggering", as most palestinians returning to their homes following sunday's ceasefire have found them destroyed. the health authorities in gaza estimate that 10,000 people

are unaccounted for. without heavy lifting equipment authorities are forced to dig through rubble by hand looking for what remains of the missing. fergal keane reports from jerusalem. the missing are here somewhere. at least 10,000. for the most part, the searchers have no heavy lifting equipment. by hand, they recover the rags and fragments of broken humanity. translation: i swear it is a painful feeling. i i cried. we are humans with feeling. seeing people torn, i can't convey to you how miserable the tragedy is. remains are taken to hospitals where families can come and check. this is the courtyard of the european hospital in south gaza. clothes and bones thought to be those of 19—year—old abdal salam, awaiting the arrival

of his brother to confirm. "his family still doesn't know where he is," says zaki shuqba, the boy's uncle. "they still don't know until they can confirm it." his brother, mohammed, arrives and sifts through the clothes. in this way, the death of abdal salam was confirmed to his family. the jewellery of a dead teenage girl. her earring worn by her younger sister in her memory. aya tubei was a cherished child.

aya was shot dead, aged 13, herfamily says, by an israeli sniper. the family had to flee the school where they were sheltering near gaza city, leaving behind aya's grave. mum lina has now seen photographs of what happened to the grave after they left, when dogs came upon it. after the ceasefire, relatives sent pictures of bones and aya's clothes. somewhere in this wilderness of rain and white plastic are the remains of a brother. rana abudakar keeps searching. to give a name to the anonymous rags and bones. an essential gesture in the face of war�*s cruelty. fergal keane, bbc news, jerusalem.

and if you want to continue watching the bbc news at ten, please turn over to bbc one or you can watch on iplayer. next it's newsnight.