A boy of 16 who planned to mimic the Southport killer by attacking a Taylor Swift-themed event wearing a copycat green hoodie today pleaded guilty to terrorism charges.

The white 16-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, wrote poetry lauding Axel Rudakubana's crimes and scouted out the Merseyside seaside town, taking photographs and researching potential targets linked to the US pop star on the anniversary of the July 2024 atrocity.

He also downloaded the same terrorist manual Rudakubana used to make the deadly poison ricin.

The youth was arrested in August after making a 999 call to police to tell them what he was plotting. 

Like the convicted killer, he had a collection of knives, and had also bought a green hooded top, to mimic the distinctive jumper worn by Rudakubana on the day of the mass stabbing.

The school drop out researched misogynistic incels, the term used to describe the online subculture of heterosexual men who are involuntarily celibate and resent women, as well as high school shootings.

He also considered an attack on his old school, just as Rudakubana also planned.

Today the shaven-headed teenager, who was dressed all in black, appeared in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court and pleaded guilty to possession of several terrorist manuals, including a recipe for ricin, the Improvised Munitions Handbook, the Anarchist Cookbook 2000 and the al-Qaeda Training Manual, which were downloaded between January 21 and May 6 last year.

Rudakubana was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum term of 52 years for the murders of Bebe King, six, Elsie Stancombe, seven, and Alice Aguiar, nine, who he stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance holiday club.

Rudakubana pictured in the distinctive green hoodie he wore on the day of the attack. CCTV cameras caught him outside the Hart Space dance studio, in Southport, shortly before he launched the mass stabbing

Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were all murdered in the atrocity on July 29, 2024

The offences carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail for an adult, but he will likely receive a much shorter sentence because the prosecution is not alleging he had a 'terrorist' motive.

The court heard he had not been charged with preparing terrorist attacks, which carries a potential life sentence, because targeting schoolchildren and misogynistic attacks are not considered 'ideological' offences.

The youth, who is now 17, denied a separate offence of making threats to kill to the police 999 operator and barrister Adam Birkby, prosecuting, said the Crown would not be proceeding with that charge.

The barrister said: 'The evidence suggests that this young man had some ideations towards the type of incident which this city experienced in July 2024 and that is what he referred to when he made the 999 call, but this is not a case where we can point to a specific motivation or ideology.