Sky News presenter breaks silence after crying on air over Southport murder
Sky News presenter Sarah-Jane Mee twice broke down in tears on camera while reporting on the Axel Rudakubana sentencing outside Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday
Sky News presenter Sarah-Jane Mee twice broke down in tears on camera while reporting on the Axel Rudakubana sentencing outside Liverpool Crown Court on ThursdayVideo Loading
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Axel Rudakubana: Sky News reporter breaks down again over victim statement
Sky News reporter Sarah-Jane Mee has broken her silence after twice being reduced to tears in front of the camera while reporting on the sentencing of Southport killer Axel Rudakubana today.
Sarah shared a Sky News report with her followers this evening that featured the breaking news that Axel Rudakubana has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of three girls at a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport last July.
After he first entered the dock at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday 23 January, prosecutors said the injuries suffered by his victims were “difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature”. Images and documents found in his home "demonstrated he had a longstanding obsession with violence, killing and genocide," the prosecutor added. "His only purpose was to kill and he targeted the youngest and most vulnerable in our society."
Sky News presenter Sarah-Jane Mee broke down for second time over devastating victim statements in Axel Rudakubana sentencing
Rudakubana pleaded guilty to all 16 offences he faced on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday. Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died following the attack in The Hart Space on a small business park in the seaside town on July 29. The defendant admitted their murders as well as the attempted murders of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
Reporting on the sentencing outside court earlier in the day, Sky presenter Sarah-Jane Mee had broken down in tears as she related the upsetting detail that witnesses found Rudakubana standing over the body of Bebe King "holding a kitchen knife". Sarah-Jane could be heard saying she needed to take a breath and then could be heard breathing deeply as silence fell over the live broadcast.
Axel Rudakubana has now been sentenced to life in prison (
Image:
Police handout)
"Right, sorry, it's just so distressing isn't it?" she said. "Look, we're here for those girls and their families so try not to get upset because it is such an important day for them and this horror that came to their door."
Sarah broke down for a second time later on in the broadcast. Reading out another victim statement, she choked up as she read: "I have scars I know that will be with me forever, but I want to look forward. When people in school asked me 'do you wish you weren't there that day?' I said that in some ways, I wish I wasn't. But also, if I wasn't there, someone....". The presenter was then unable to finish her report as she broke down in tears again.
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