The Ministry of Justice has responded following reports that Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was beaten up in his cell at Strangeways.
A viral voice note was shared across social media on Sunday (26 January) claiming the murderer – who slaughtered three young girls in an attack on a Taylor Swift-themed class last summer – had been attacked by fellow inmates, but this has since been debunked.
The audio recording suggests that two other inmates were allowed into Rudakubana’s cell, where they then carried out an attack on the 18-year-old, who was jailed for life on Thursday (23 January), the Mirror reports. However, it is understood that Axel Rudakubana is currently being held in a segregation unit at HMP Belmarsh due to fears for his safety among the general prison population.
The Ministry of Justice has also confirmed that the claims made in the audio recording are false. It is also unclear whether Rudakubana will remain at HMP Belmarsh in south-east London – a high-security prison designed to house the most dangerous offenders. The audio recording in question was shared on X by an anti-immigration account. In the clip, a man is heard saying: “Two lads here in for murder doing a 35 [year sentence]. They just got let into that little b*d’s […]. The child killer’s cell. […] And absolutely smashed him to pieces.”