John Healey says he hopes Axel Rudakubana, 18, spends rest of his life in prison for murder of three girls

A senior UK cabinet minister has said he hopes the Southport killer will never leave prison and confirmed that “nothing is off the table” in possible reforms to sentencing as a result of the attack.

On Thursday, Axel Rudakubana was sentenced to 52 years in prison for the murder of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, at a dance class last July, the attempted murder of eight others, as well as two adults who tried to save them. He avoided a whole-life term because he was 17 at the time of the murders.