A teenage boy who praised Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has appeared in court after allegedly planning an attack at the first show of Oasis’ reunion tour.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court and has been accused of planning an attack similar to that of the fatal attack at a dance school in Southport last year.
Reports from The Times share that he was allegedly looking into how to obtain large knives, and sent a photo of a blade for sale online to a friend, asking, “Would this work?”
The teenager is from near Cwmbran, South Wales, and prosecution at Westminster shared how he allegedly told friends of a plan to launch an attack at the opening night of Oasis’ long-awaited reunion tour, which was held at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on July 4.
The prosecution also said that the 17-year-old had shared praise for Axel Rudakubana – who murdered nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, six-year-old Bebe King, and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport last year.
Rudakubana also injured 10 others in his attack on July 29, including eight children, and was later given a minimum prison sentence of 52 years at the start of 2025.
The boy planning the attack at the Oasis show earlier this month was reported to the police by someone he spoke to on Snapchat, according to The Times. The outlet also shared that he had an appointment with a counsellor on June 2 after his family raised concerns, and that the counsellor reported him to authorities when he shared praise for Rudakubana during their session.
Prosecution at Westminster’s Magistrates’ Court shared that the teenager used a misspelt version of Rudakubana’s name on his Snapchat account, had researched the killer on his phone, and saved images of him with words mocking the victims of the Southport attack.
He also allegedly researched knives and transferred an Al-Qaeda training manual between phones.
It added that there was no evidence the teenager held an ideology that would fit the legal definition of terrorism (via Express), and he has been charged and admitted to the single charge of possessing a document useful for terrorism.
The teenager appeared at the Magistrates’ Court in Westminster on June 21, and his case was committed to the Crown Court for sentencing at a later date.
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