Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Southport stabbings suspect Axel Rudakubana (Elizabeth Cook/PA) The 18-year-old accused of killing three girls in a knife attack at a Southport dance class is due to go on trial. Axel Rudakubana, of Banks ...

The 18-year-old’s disruptions meant he was not in court as the judge handed him one of the longest minimum terms on record.

DCI Jason Pye, who led the investigation, said no training course could have prepared his officers for the horror of what they saw.

Here is a timeline of what was known when about Southport killer Axel Rudakubana: 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.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died in the attack in July last year.

Axel Rudakubana has been handed a 52 year sentence for the murder of three young girls at a dance class in Southport last summer. | ITV News Granada

The Southport killer said 'I’m glad they’re dead' as he was held in a custody suite after killing three girls at a dance class, the court heard

A former chairman of the Conservative Party has claimed 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 prosecution said the fatal stabbings were part of a "meticulously planned rampage" from a "young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence".

Axel Rudakubana, 18, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 52 years in prison on Thursday after admitting to the murder of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, nine, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

Rudakubana cowardly refused to come into the dock at Liverpool Crown Court when he was being sentenced by the judge

Mr Justice Goose ordered Axel Rukakubana to be removed from the dock during sentencing after he repeatedly interrupted proceedings, claiming to be ill (Elizabeth Cook/PA) Southport killer Axel ...