British teenager Axel Rudakubana left his home in July last year with an intention to kill.
WARNING: This story contains graphic details of violence which readers may find distressing.
His target; a group of young girls making friendship bracelets while singing Taylor Swift songs at a fully-booked school holiday event in the English town of Southport.
Prosecutors say he researched atrocities committed by others and "set out to emulate them", and before he left home, he searched social media for a video of the stabbing of Sydney bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, which had taken place months earlier.
At Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, the 18-year-old was sentenced to at least 52 years in prison over the murders of Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, and the attempted murder of 10 others.
CCTV and police body camera footage presented at Liverpool Crown Court showed the young attacker entering the building where the children were gathered around a table.
Within 30 seconds, screams could be heard outside.
Witnesses in the room described seeing the attacker lunging through the group armed with a large kitchen knife.
Many of the children sustained wounds to the back as they tried to flee.
The injuries to two of his victims were so horrific, prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said they are "difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature".
After his arrest, Rudakubana told police "it's a good thing those children are dead, I'm so glad, I'm so happy".
During his attack, eight girls, ranging in age from seven to 13, were wounded, along with instructor Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes, who worked in a business next door and intervened.
In her victim-impact statement Ms Lucas, who ran the school holiday workshop, asked the court "how can I live knowing I survived when children died?"
The mother of Elsie Dot Stancombe called Rudakubana "a coward" and the parents of Alice da Silva Aguiar described their lives as being in "a five-dimensional horror film" on a loop.
One teenage survivor, who read her victim-impact statement to the court, told her attacker "the thing I remember most about you, your eyes, you didn't look human, you looked possessed".
"Whilst you live behind bars alone, I will make sure that my sister and I, and our family will do our best to move forward with our lives."
At the sentencing hearing on Thursday, Judge Julian Gooose told the court: "What he did on the 29th of July last year has caused such shock and revulsion to the nation that it must be viewed as being a very extreme level of crime, the culpability and harm he intended were at the highest."
"It is likely he will never be released, and he will be in custody for all of his life."
Rudakubana was 17 at the time of the killings and under UK law couldn't be given a longer sentence due to his young age.
He was removed from court while evidence was presented after he refused to stop yelling from the dock. He repeatedly claimed he was unwell and needed medical attention.
Rudakubana also pleaded guilty to producing the biological toxin ricin and possessing an al Qaeda training manual.
The attack, and online speculation over the suspect's identity and motive, led to nationwide riots in the days that followed.
The teenager was known to police and had a history of violence long before the July attack.
With the court case now complete, questions are being asked over why the horrific attack wasn't prevented.
Signs were missed
The court heard that Rudakubana, aged 11, starred as Doctor Who in a BBC advertisement for a program to help underprivileged children.
A quiet boy from an evangelical Christian family, as a teenager Rudakubana became increasingly isolated and rarely left his home.
But behind his shy demeanour was a killer-in-waiting, the court heard, obsessed with violence and death.
Born in the Welsh capital Cardiff to Rwandan migrant parents, he moved to the English town of Banks in Lancashire in 2013.
From age 13, the court heard he was referred to the UK's counter terrorism "Prevent" program on three separate occasions, because of his fixation on violence.
Around the same time, in 2019, the teenager was expelled after taking a knife to school on at least 10 occasions. He claimed he was being bullied at the time.
Two months later he returned to the high school with a hockey stick which he used to assault a student.
Police were called to his home five times over concerns about his behaviour in the years that followed.
He also came into contact with the courts, social services and mental health programs.
Prosecutor Heer told the court his attack on the school holiday workshop may not have been his first attempt at causing mass harm.
Rudakubana was planning to return to his former school a week before the Southport attack but was stopped by his father who pleaded with a taxi driver not to take him.
He booked the taxi under the name Simon, the same alias he used to book a taxi to the dance class where he carried out his murderous spree a week later.
British media who have spoken to his former classmates say he had a fascination with despotic figures including Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler and had a "kill list" of people he wanted to target.
The court heard there were numerous images found on Rudakubana's devices relating to different wars and international conflicts, including in Gaza, Ukraine and Iraq as well as violent images of dead bodies, victims of torture, beheadings and rape.
"It was a very broad spread of material which provides a window into the defendant's mind at the time," Ms Heer told the court.
"He had a longstanding obsession with violence killing and genocide."
The UK's Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has previously criticised government agencies for failing to identify the danger Rudakubana posed to others and announced a public inquiry to determine "the truth about what happened and what needs to change."
Change of terror laws
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says changing the country's terrorism laws is the first step to stopping would-be killers like Rudakubana.
He believes a change would ensure that lone killers with "extreme individualised violence" are charged with terrorism offences despite not having a coherent ideology.
Jonathan Hall KC is the UK's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, and it's his role to evaluate whether changing the country's terror laws is viable.
"The terrible Southport attack appears to have been committed by someone who is obsessed by violence, but it wasn't ideological, so he can't be prosecuted as a terrorist," Mr Hall told the ABC, in an interview.
What the Prime Minister has suggested is that it may be necessary to change the definition of terrorism, on the basis that there are so many of these cases, and that if you don't treat them as terrorism, then they're going to slip through the net."
The definition of terrorism under UK law is already quite broad and can include lone actors, but they must be seeking to advance a cause, which can be religious, political, racial or ideological.
When individuals are motivated by a fixation on violence or personal grievance, they don't fit that definition, despite their actions causing fear and terror in the community.
Mr Hall says there are three key reasons why you might consider broadening the legislation to include those cases, although these reasons are not necessarily sufficient.
"Some people feel that unless you call something terrorism it is not being seen as serious enough," Mr Hall said.
"The second is resources, the UK has got a well-respected and well-resourced counter-terrorism system so there's perhaps the desire that if you call something terrorism you might be able to invoke some of these resources that aren't otherwise available."
"The third is the functional one, if something is terrorism then there are additional sorts of liability, so you can commit an offence by encouraging terrorism, or preparing for terrorism or having a terrorist manual, which means that there are more opportunities for the police to arrest people before they carry out attacks."
