British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed solidarity with the families of three girls stabbed to death by an assailant, who received a life sentence for his crimes on Thursday.
“We stand with you in your grief,” Starmer said.
Starmer added that Axel Rudakubana had been responsible for “one of the most harrowing moments in our country’s history” for the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, northwest England last July.
“The thoughts of the entire nation are with the families and everyone affected by the unimaginable horrors that unfolded in Southport. No words will ever be able to capture the depth of their pain,” Starmer said in a statement.
“I want to say directly to the survivors, families and community of Southport – you are not alone. We stand with you in your grief.”
He called Rudakubana a “vile offender” who “will likely never be released.”
“After one of the most harrowing moments in our country’s history we owe it to these innocent young girls and all those affected to deliver the change that they deserve,” he added.
A judge ruled that 18-year-old Rudakubana would spend a minimum of 52 years in prison.
That minimum term is one of the longest handed down in British legal history.
But minutes after the sentence was issued, the government’s law officers announced they had received a request to consider whether it was too short.
Because Rudakubana was under 18 at the time of the murders, the judge said he could not issue a whole life order – a sentence that comes without the possibility of parole.
U.K. opposition leader Kemi Badenoch said in a statement there was a “strong case” for amending the law.
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