Teen accused of stabbing that left three girls dead in England accused of terrorism

LONDON — The teenager accused of a stabbing that left three girls dead at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England has been charged with producing the deadly poison ricin and now faces a terror offense, police said Tuesday.

Merseyside Police said Axel Rudakubana, 18, who is accused of murdering three girls and stabbing 10 other people in July, produced the deadly poison ricin which was later found in his home.

Ricin is derived from the castor plant and is one of the world’s deadliest toxins. There is no known vaccine or antidote and it kills cells by preventing them from making proteins.

Rudakubana also had an al-Qaeda jihad training manual, Chief Serena Kennedy said.

Police stressed that while the production of ricin was considered a terror crime, the July knife attack was not classified as a ‘terrorist incident’, which requires a motive to be known.

Rudakubana, who police say was born in Wales, already faced three counts of murder over the July deaths of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England .