A teenager has been sentenced to 52 years in prison for fatally stabbing three girls at a children's Taylor Swift-themed event in the United Kingdom last year. Axel Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty to all charges, including three counts of murder, earlier this week on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court. The horrific stabbing spree unfolded in July in Southport, a seaside town about 20 miles north of Liverpool. Merseyside police said the children were attending a Taylor Swift-themed event at a dance school. Three girls -- 6-year-old Bebe King, 7-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and 9-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar -- were killed. Ten people were also injured in the attack, police said.

A teenager who stabbed three young girls to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England was sentenced Thursday to more than 50 years in prison for what a judge called “the most extreme, shocking and exceptionally serious crime.” Judge Julian Goose said 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana “wanted to try and carry out mass murder of innocent, happy young girls.” Goose said that he couldn’t impose a sentence of life without parole, because Rudakubana was under 18 when he committed the crime. But the judge said he must serve 52 years, minus the six months he’s been in custody, before being considered for parole, and “it is likely he will never be released.”

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been jailed for a minimum of 52 years but not given a whole-life order. The 18-year-old could not be handed a full life term because he was 17 at the time of the murders, although the judge said he would “likely never be released”. Addressing the absent Rudakubana - who was twice removed from court for being “disruptive” - Mr Justice Goose said “the law does not permit such a sentence” for those under 18 at the time that they committed the offence. At Liverpool Crown Court he was jailed for at least 52 years on Thursday for the “sadistic” murder of three girls at a dance class. Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died in the attack, which saw 10 others stabbed. Rudakubana also attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.