Axel Rudakubana: Prison Guard Attacked with Boiling Water

Police are investigating an alleged attack by Southport child killer Axel Rudakubana on a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh on Thursday. It is understood Rudakubana threw boiling water over the officer, who was treated in hospital and discharged the same day.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed the incident and said violence against staff “will not be tolerated.” The Prison Service added that it will “always push for the strongest possible punishment” in such cases.

Rudakubana, 18, is serving a minimum 52-year sentence for the murder of three young girls and the attempted murder of ten others during a dance class in Southport in July 2024. He was also convicted of terrorism-related offences and the possession of ricin.
It is not clear how Rudakubana accessed the boiling water, but the incident has reignited concerns about staff safety in high-security prisons. Tom Wheatley, president of the Prison Governors’ Association, claimed it was “lower risk” for prisoners to use kettles in their cells than to have officers deliver hot water. However, he conceded that prisoners can weaponise “pretty much anything” if they intend to cause harm.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said this was now a “full-blown crisis” and added: “Warning after warning has been ignored. The Justice Secretary needs to act now.”

He’s right.

This marks the third serious security failure at a top-security prison in recent weeks. Last month, Manchester Arena bomber Hashem Abedi attacked three officers with hot oil and improvised stabbing weapons at HMP Frankland. That attack led to the suspension of kitchen access in Close Supervision Centres. And yet, weeks later, a convicted terrorist and mass killer like Rudakubana apparently still had access to a kettle.

We need to ask: why are deranged killers still being handed the means to scald staff?
The logic given by prison officials—that kettles in cells are safer than officers handing out hot water—might hold in a low-security environment. But Rudakubana isn’t a shoplifter on remand. He murdered three children and attempted to kill 10 more. He produced ricin. He is not “high risk”—he is off the scale.

Every failure to restrict access to potential weapons is a direct risk to the prison officers who are already stretched thin, working in overcrowded, understaffed, and volatile conditions.

Talk of taser trials and body armour reviews is welcome, but it doesn’t address the obvious. Officers shouldn’t be forced to face boiling water attacks from the likes of Rudakubana because someone, somewhere, still thinks he deserves the dignity of a kettle.

This is not about punishing all prisoners. It is about drawing a clear line when it comes to those who have proven, again and again, their capacity for calculated violence.

The Justice Secretary must act immediately:

• No kettles in cells for high-risk and violent prisoners
• A mandatory security review of in-cell privileges for anyone convicted of terrorism or murder
• Emergency protective protocols for officers assigned to dangerous individuals
  
  This is a matter of life and death. And the safety of those guarding our prisons must come first.