A British teenager who killed three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event was jailed for at least 52 years on Thursday, for an attack Prime Minister Keir Starmer called one of the most harrowing moments in Britain's history.

A British teenager on Monday pleaded guilty to charges of murdering three young girls in a knife attack in northern England in July, a crime that horrified the nation and was followed by days of nationwide rioting.

Axel Rudakubana on Monday admitted committing the deadly attack last July. Officials later said he had been referred to a government counterterrorism program three times before his rampage.

A British teenager who murdered three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event was jailed for at least 52 years on Thursday, for an atrocity prosecutors said was so violent it appeared he had tried to decapitate one of the victims.