A teenager from Merseyside who planned to copy the Southport killer by attacking a Taylor Swift-themed event wearing a green hoodie has pleaded guilty to terrorism charges.
The white teenager from Kirkby, who was 16 at the time and is now 17, cannot be named because of his age.
He appeared at Liverpool Crown Court, shaven-headed, dressed all in black, and spoke only to enter his pleas.
The teenager had visited Southport, which is 15 miles away, and taken pictures of the area, collected knives, researched a Taylor Swift-themed event and downloaded the same al-Qaeda manual used by Axel Rudakubana to produce the poison ricin.
He had also researched high school shootings and misogynist incels and considered an attack on his old school, after dropping out, according to prosecutors.
The teen was arrested in August after making a 999 call to police to tell them what he was planning.
He was not charged with preparing terrorist attacks, which carries a potential life sentence, because targeting schoolchildren and misogynistic attacks are not considered “ideological” offences by prosecutors.
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The teenager pleaded guilty to possession of the Improvised Munitions Handbook, the Anarchist Cookbook 2000, a recipe for making ricin and the al-Qaeda training manual, downloaded between 21 January and 6 May.
The offences carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail for an adult but the prosecution is not alleging there was a “terrorist” motive and he will receive a much lower sentence.
The teen denied a charge of making threats to kill to the 999 operator and Adam Birkby, prosecuting, told the court the prosecution would not proceed with the charge.
The prosecutor added: “The evidence suggests that this young man had some ideations towards the type of incident which this city experienced in July 2024 and that is what he referred to when he made the 999 call but this is not a case where we can point to a specific motivation or ideology.
“Matters seem to have culminated in the 999 call but we take view it is not in the public interest, particularly given the circumstances around this young man and his age, to pursue that charge.”
The judge, Neil Flewitt KC, remanded the youth in detention and ordered a pre-sentence report. He also asked the prosecution to serve a psychiatric report ahead of the sentencing in March.
The judge told him it was “highly likely you will have to remain in custody for a longer period”.
Like Rudakubana, the boy is thought to have autism and had dropped out of school. Like the Southport killer, it is understood he was known to social services and had been treated by child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
Plans emerged after he dialled 999
The teenager’s plans only came to the attention of police when he dialled 999 on 6 August last year from the bathroom at his grandparents’ house, with his mother and baby sister downstairs.
He said he was “captivated” by the idea of violence and was going to try to copy Axel Rudakubana, “but there wasn’t any events near me so I’ve postponed it”.
Police officers went to the house and found a bag, taken from his mother’s house, containing knives taken from the kitchen in his grandparents’ house.
Examination of the Samsung mobile phone he had used to call police revealed photographs taken in Southport and the phone also geo-located to the area on 13 May.
On 29 July, the anniversary of the Southport attack, the boy researched suitable targets for an attack, focusing on a Taylor Swift event and he told officers he had been to the location.
In entries in the encrypted notes section of his phone, police found poetry in honour of Rudakubana which appeared to be generated by the AI programme ChatGPT.
The notes included references to incels, spurgcels – incels who have Asperger’s Syndrome, also known as autism – and “Axelcels”.
There were also notes about a plan to carry out a copycat attack similar to that of Rudakubana and a secondary plan to use a vehicle to commit an attack or make a bomb.
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Rudakubana was 17 when he murdered Bebe King, six, Elsie Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July 2024, wearing a green hoodie and a face mask. He was jailed for life for murder in January last year.
He had previously been expelled for carrying a knife and attempted to return to his old school to launch an attack.
