SOUTHPORT KNIFE ATTACK ACCUSED FACES TERROR CHARGE

Teen murder suspect was "in possession of Al-Qaeda manual and a biological toxin'

- Jan Disley and Michael Knowles

THE teenager accused of killing three girls in Southport faces a terror charge after a jihadi guide was found at his home with the poison ricin.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, was already charged with three murders and 10 attempted murders at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July. Merseyside Police denied the new charges point to the atrocity being a terror attack.

But the decision to charge Rudakubana with a terror offence and making a biological weapon has prompted a wave of fury, with claims of a cover-up and demands to know what the authorities knew and when.

Conservative leadership contenders Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch and Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly are calling for Sir Keir Starmer to respond to questions about the matter.

Cardiff-born Rudakubana is due to appear before Westminster magistrates by video-link this morning with a trial expected in January.

Bebe King, six, Alice DaSilva Aguiar, nine, and Elsie Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died after being stabbed at The Hart Space, Hart Street, in the Merseyside seaside resort on July 29.

Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said Rudakubana was charged with possessing a PDF document of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing to or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which was found at his home in Banks, Lancashire.

He has also been charged with production of a biological toxin contrary to Section 1 of the Biological Weapons Act 1974.