Southport killer’s sentence will not be referred to court of appeal

Rudakubana’s sentence was the second-longest imposed by the courts in English history, but has been criticised as ‘unduly lenient’. Photograph: Merseyside Police/PA

The sentence of the Southport killer will not be referred to the court of appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, the attorney general has said.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, was handed a 52-year minimum sentence for murdering three girls at a dance class, the second-longest sentence imposed by the courts in English history, but the Southport MP Patrick Hurley previously asked the attorney general to review the sentence as “unduly lenient”, saying it is “not severe enough”.