A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said the murderer was unlikely to ever be released

Southport killer Axel Rudakabana has been taken to Broadmoor secure hospital as authorities admitted he was unable to be "managed safely" behind bars.

The murderer was moved to the notorious psychiatric hospital from category A prison Belmarsh this week.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed the move had been made following a clinical assessment under the Mental Health Act, adding Rudakabana was unlikely to ever be released.

The convict will remain at Broadmoor until he is deemed "fit" to return to prison. His sentence of 52 years remains unchanged.

A spokesman said: "The families of those murdered and injured in Southport will be in this country’s heart forever and our thoughts remain with them.

"Any decision to transfer an offender is made following an independent, clinical assessment, under the Mental Health Act.

"Following rigorous security checks, the offender has been transferred to a high-security psychiatric unit, where he will remain until assessed fit to return to prison.

"Officials have approved this transfer, on behalf of ministers. This transfer does not change his sentence – which remains at 52 years – and of which he will serve every single day."

The 19-year-old was jailed for life in January 2025 when he was handed a minimum sentence of 52 years after killing Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine.

He attacked eight more children, dance class instructor Leanne Lucas, and businessman John Hayes, at a Taylor Swift dance class on July 29 2024 in Southport.

He was found guilty of producing the biological toxin ricin and of possessing an al-Qaeda training manual under the Terrorism Act.

Rudakubana was deemed fit to stand trial as recently as January 2025.

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But, now, the British taxpayer will have to cover the extra cost of housing the convicted killer in a high-security hospital.

Those staying in such institutions cost around £300,000 each year, while a prisoner would cost £60,000 for the same time period, Whitehall insiders told The Guardian.

The criminal is suspected of "playing the system" as the national chair of the POA union, Mark Fairhust, theorised the teenager was attempting to find more pleasant accommodation.

"[Rudakubana] is not mentally unwell. He is playing the system and is nothing more than evil. He should spend his entire sentence in solitary confinement staring at four walls," he told the paper.

"It is appalling to think that he will now enjoy all the freedoms a secure hospital is forced to give him and even more unjustified is the taxpayer actually paying him benefits because he is now classed as mentally unwell.

"It is POA members who will now have to carry out the wishes of those who think he can be cured.

"This is a sickening development and my thoughts are with the families of the victims and all those who have been affected by his atrocious crime."

Those held at Broadmoor are generally treated as psychiatric patients instead of prisoners.