The potentially lethal poison ricin was found in the home of Southport suspect Axel Rudakubana by police, adding charges of production of a biological toxin to his three murder counts
Southport stabbing suspect charged with terror offences
A teenager accused of stabbing three little girls to death and injuring several others at a dance class in Southport has also been charged with possessing terrorism material and making the poison ricin.
Axel Rudakubana of Lancashire has been charged with the murders of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, who died at the Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July. He is also charged with ten counts of attempted murder after the knife attack, as well as terror offences, after detectives found ricin and a study paper of a Jihad ‘training manual’ in a search of his home.
Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said there was no evidence that ricin was present at Hart Space, the scene of the knife attack, and that counter-terrorism police had “not declared the events of 29 July as a terrorist incident”.
Kennedy said: “At this time, Counter Terrorism Policing has not declared the attack on Monday 29 July a terrorist incident. I recognise that the new charges may lead to speculation. The matter for which Axel Rudakubana has been charged with under the Terrorism Act does not require motive to be established. For a matter to be declared a terrorist incident, motivation would need to be established.”
But what is the toxin and how dangerous is it? Read on to find out.
What is ricin?
Ricin is a toxic chemical poison which is feared to be 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide. It can be found in the form of a powder, mist or pellet and can be fatal when inhaled, ingested, injected or swallowed.
Terrifyingly, two millionths of an ounce are enough to kill an adult – roughly the weight of a grain of salt. There is no antidote for ricin poisoning as it kills the cells inside a person’s body, preventing cells from making the protein they need.
How is it created?
Ricin is found naturally in castor beans and is part of the waste “mash” produced when castor oil is made. It would take a deliberate act to make ricin and use it to kill someone. Symptoms of ricin poisoning include difficulty breathing, nausea, fever and a cough.
Anyone exposed to ricin should remove their clothing, wash their entire body with soap and water and seek urgent medical attention.
How was it used at first?
During the First World War, the US military thought about coating bullets and shrapnel in ricin, but the thermal sensitivity of ricin to heat posed a problem.
The military also contemplated creating a “dust cloud” of ricin to be used as a weapon but delayed development until an antitoxin was created.
Has it ever been used in an attack?
In an infamous case dating back to 1978, Bulgarian journalist Georgi Markov was stabbed with an umbrella on Waterloo Bridge. It was rigged to inject a poison pellet into his leg, causing Markov’s death.
In 2003, ricin was detected in the mail at the White House in Washington DC. It was not considered a health risk because of its low potency. In 2020, a package containing ricin addressed to then President Donald Trump was intercepted by police.
In the UK, in July 2015, a 31-year-old man was convicted at the Old Bailey of attempting to buy 500mg of ricin on the dark web, but he had instead been talking to an FBI agent who sent a harmless powder. The man was said to have been influenced by Breaking Bad and was sent to prison for eight years.