A former chairman of the Conservative Party has made the bizarre claims that the beginning of Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana’s trial was scheduled on the same day as Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration as “a calculated and cynical move by the Labour Government to ‘bury bad news’ behind international headlines”.
The claim echoes other social media posts over recent months which make various claims about the timing of both events on the same day.
The claim made by Sir Jake Berry can be proven as false as the trial date is set by the courts, not the Government. The trial was scheduled months before Mr Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.
The trial date was set for January 20 2025 during a hearing on August 1 2024 by Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Andrew Menary KC – the judge who allowed Rudakubana’s name to be published despite him being under 18 at the time he was charged.
This was more than three months before the US presidential election was held on November 5.
While it was not known at the time the trial date was set that Mr Trump would become the next president, the US inauguration ceremony always takes place on January 20, or on January 21 if the 20th is a Sunday.
Trial schedules are set by the courts, never by the Government.
The Government’s website states: “If the defendant pleads not guilty to the crime the court will need to arrange a trial to receive evidence about what happened. At the first hearing the court will ask for information about the case, set a trial date and make court orders (‘directions’) about getting the case ready for trial.”
Not guilty pleas were entered on Rudakubana’s behalf at Liverpool Crown Court on December 18 2024. His trial was expected to last four to six weeks.
Because Rudakubana pleaded guilty on the morning of January 20 the trial did not go ahead as planned.
Here is a timeline of what was known when about Southport killer Axel Rudakubana:
– 2019
Axel Rudakubana becomes known to a range of local agencies due to anxiety, social isolation and challenging behaviour.
In October he takes a knife to school, and in December attacks another child with a hockey stick.
He receives a youth justice referral order for the assault – a measure where juveniles who plead guilty to their first offence are placed under supervision to try to stop them reoffending – and completes this in 2021.
Between December 2019 and April 2021 he is referred to the government counter-extremism scheme Prevent three times.
He is aged between 13 and 14.
– October 2019 to May 2022
Lancashire Police have a series of interactions with the teenager, including being called to his house five times.
He is assessed for an autism spectrum disorder, and given mental health and educational support.
– February 2023
Rudakubana has stopped engaging with mental health workers, is struggling to attend school and has anxiety that makes him unwilling to leave his house.
– Monday July 29 2024
The teenager, then aged 17, murders Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and injures eight other children and two adults in a knife rampage.
Within hours, just after 5.15pm, Merseyside Police releases a statement confirming “that the incident is not currently being treated as terror-related”, and this remains the case to date.
The force also says that the suspect they have arrested was born in Cardiff, amid false rumours online that the attack was carried out by an asylum seeker.
– Tuesday July 30
Rudakubana’s home in Old School Close, Banks is searched by police, and an unknown substance is found in his bedroom.
The search is halted and the substance is sent to the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) in Porton Down near Salisbury for analysis.
Separately, that evening there is both a peaceful vigil for the girls in Southport, and unrest outside the town’s mosque.
– Wednesday July 31
Rudakubana is charged with three counts of murder, 10 of attempted murder, and one of possession of a knife in a public place.
Demonstrators gather in Whitehall, London, for an “Enough Is Enough” protest.
Flares and cans are thrown at police and more than 100 people are arrested.
Disorder also breaks out in Hartlepool, County Durham, and Aldershot, Hampshire.
– Thursday August 1
Lab results suggest that the unknown substance is ricin.
This is a biological toxin estimated to be 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide.
It can be fatal when inhaled, ingested, injected or swallowed.
– Friday August 2
The substance is confirmed by the Dstl to be ricin.
The form the poison was found in was deemed to be “low to very low risk”.
– Unconfirmed date in September
Merseyside Police pass a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) concerning the ricin and an al Qaida training manual found in Rudakubana’s possession.
– October 29
The additional charges against Rudakubana over the ricin and the al Qaida document are publicly announced.
He is charged with possessing the document between August 29 2021 and July 30 2024.
The Government insists that the timing of the decision to announce the charges was purely a decision for the CPS, amid calls for more information to be released by politicians including Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick and Nigel Farage.
The ricin charge required the authorisation of government officers the attorney general or solicitor general to proceed, and the BBC reports that senior government figures had been told about the new charges a few weeks before.
In January 2025 Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he had been updated about the case, but was unable to reveal any details publicly as it would have risked causing a future criminal trial to collapse.
The Attorney General’s Office is yet to confirm when the CPS applied for approval for the additional charge under the Biological Weapons Act and when the government’s law officers granted approval but it is understood this process took place within days.
– Monday January 20 2025
Rudakubana speaks for the first time at a court hearing and pleads guilty to all charges, paving the way for full details about the case to be revealed now that there will be no jury trial.
The referrals to Prevent are revealed publicly for the first time, along with details of his obsession with violence and attempt to travel to his school the week before the murders.
The debate over whether information about his background should have been released earlier is reignited.
– Tuesday January 21
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper tells the Commons that Rudakubana had admitted carrying a knife 10 times, and that he had bought the murder weapon on Amazon despite having a previous conviction for violence over the hockey stick incident and being underage.
