A court in the northern English city of Liverpool has heard a teenager plead guilty to charges of murdering three young girls in a knife attack that shocked Britain.

The 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana also pleaded guilty to 10 charges of attempted murder in the attack as well as producing the deadly poison ricin.

The teenager refused to stand in court and did not speak except to say the word "guilty."

Judge Julian Goose said Rudakubana would be sentenced on Thursday in a case that otherwise would have been expected to go on for four weeks. 

What the defendant admitted

The defendant unexpectedly changed his pleas from not guilty to guilty on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to the murders of three girls, Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in the seaside town of Southport.

The defendant admitted possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

That charge relates to an apparent al-Qaeda training manual which, along with the ricin, was found at the home Rudakubana shared with his parents, who are originally from Rwanda.

How did the case lead to unrest?

Unrest linked to the killings, fueled by online misinformation that a Muslim asylum seeker was responsible, lasted several days. They saw far-right rioters attack police, shops, hotels housing asylum seekers as well as mosques and a library. Hundreds of participants were subsequently arrested and charged.

Despite Rudakubana being 17 years old when he carried out the attack, restrictions on reporting his name were lifted in August amid concerns over the spread of false information.

rc/nm (AFP, dpa)