During the trial of the case, it was revealed that two years before the attack, Rudakubana’s parents had called the police four times in six months asking for help

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.

Axel Rudakubana, of Banks, Lancashire, will stand trial charged with the murders of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July.

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

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

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.

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”.

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

Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Southport stabbings suspect Axel Rudakubana, 18 (Elizabeth Cook/PA) A warning about commenting on the trial of a teenager accused of a knife attack at a ...

A violence-obsessed teenager who murdered three girls at a dance class in Southport tried to take ... he appeared at Liverpool Crown Court (Elizabeth Cook/PA) He had been due to stand trial ...