The 17-year-old charged with murdering three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport can be named as Axel Muganwa Rudakubana after reporting restrictions were lifted.

On Thursday morning, the teenager appeared at Liverpool Crown Court charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder. He was remanded in custody.

Earlier on Thursday, Axel, from Banks, in Lancashire, had appeared in the dock at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court for a preliminary hearing.

Axel, who turns 18 on Aug 7, was born to Rwandan parents in Cardiff before moving to Banks.

He has been charged with the murders of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine; 10 counts of attempted murder; and possession of a bladed article, namely a “kitchen knife with a curved blade” following the attack on Monday.

The three children died after being stabbed while they were attending the Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga workshop.

Eight other children suffered stab wounds, with five in critical condition. Two children have been discharged from hospital.

Dozens of officers stood watch outside the courtroom after another night of violent protests across the country.

The teenager appeared at a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court, where Judge Andrew Menary KC, the Recorder of Liverpool, made the ruling.

Judge Menary said: “Continuing to prevent the full reporting has the disadvantage of allowing others to spread misinformation in a vacuum.

“Whilst I accept it is exceptional given his age, principally because he is 18 in six days time, I do not make an order under section 45.”

Previously, the teenager could not be named because of his age, but his anonymity would have fallen away next Wednesday when he turns 18.

Judge Menary heard arguments from the prosecution and defence and representations from the media about whether reporting of the defendant’s identity should be restricted until his 18th birthday.

Axel, who spent the entire 55 minutes of the hearing covering his whole face, with his grey sweatshirt pulled up to his hairline, rocking back and forth and side to side at times, will next appear at Liverpool Crown Court on Oct 25.

A provisional trial date, lasting six weeks, was scheduled for Jan 20 next year.

Judge Menary told the defendant, who did not acknowledge the judge and continued to keep his head down: “You are remanded to youth detention accommodation until these proceedings have been completed.

“That position might change when you achieve your majority in a short while.”

Just Stop Oil protesters have been removed from Heathrow airport following another failed protest.

Several activists sat or stood by the gates to departures in Terminal Five before some were physically removed by police.

It followed several other damp squib demonstrations at airports this week. 

On Monday, holidaymakers at Gatwick stepped over activists who had attempted to block security gates, while on Tuesday two Just Stop Oil members reportedly sprayed information boards, windows and the floor at Heathrow Terminal Five’s departures area with orange paint.

A Heathrow spokesman said: “Earlier this morning, a protest incident in Terminal Five was swiftly resolved, and all involved were immediately removed from the airport.

“Our priority will always be to maintain the safety of passengers and colleagues, and we’ll continue to work closely with our partners and the police in taking proportionate action to protect travel plans this summer. Unlawful and irresponsible protest activity is not the way forward, and will not be tolerated.”

The Telegraph understands that Thursday’s Heathrow protesters did not daub orange paint on anything and did not glue themselves to the floor or any other structures.

Just Stop Oil, which is calling on the Government to establish a “fossil fuel treaty”, vowed last week to use “all means necessary” to disrupt summer holidays.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “At 08:48hrs on Thursday, Aug 1, officers at Heathrow airport became aware of protesters blocking a security lane at Terminal Five.

“Seven protesters were arrested on suspicion of interfering with key national infrastructure contrary to Section Seven of the Public Order Act 2023. They were taken to a west London police station, where they remain at this time. The incident was complete at 09:08hrs. Enquiries are ongoing.”

Just Stop Oil claimed two of the seven people arrested on Thursday were septuagenarians.

Di Bligh, 77, a former chief executive of Reading Borough council, and Ruth Cook, a 72-year-old from Somerset, were both said by the group to have been arrested by police.

In a prepared statement, Ms Bligh said: “Electric cars and windfarms won’t do it – governments must act together before we reach more tipping points into chaos than we can prevent. 

“We need our political leaders to act now, by working with other nations to establish a legally binding treaty to stop the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.”

In a statement issued by Just Stop Oil, Ms Cook said: “I am here for my two grandchildren, my two grandnieces who have just come into this world, and for all children – what future will they face? 

“I want to be able to look them in the eye and tell them that I did all that I could.”

The protest group claimed a total of 17 people had been arrested on Thursday morning, including 10 detained on public transport, six blocking travellers and one person filming the protesters.

It came the day after two of Just Stop Oil’s number were jailed for breaking their bail conditions. Phoebe Plummer, 22, and Jane Touil, 58, were remanded in custody on Wednesday after targeting Terminal Five in a similar protest on Tuesday.

A lawyer serving on a crown court jury has become the first person to take the oath swearing on a river.

Paul Powlesland, 38, took the oath at a major London crown court with his fingers dipped into a cup of water taken from the river Roding, in Barking, east London, where he lives on a houseboat.

As he did so, he said: “I swear by the river Roding, from her source in Molehill Green to her confluence with the Thames, that I will faithfully try the defendant and give a true verdict according to the evidence.”

Mr Powlesland is a barrister at Garden Court Chambers, who specialises in nature protection, employment and housing law.

He told The Telegraph: “When I was called for jury duty, I was thinking of the thing that was most meaningful for me – something that I would truly feel bound to if I gave an oath on it. I realised it was the river.”

He took a small bottle containing the river water with him to court and was asked by security staff to take a sip from it – a test required of everyone taking drinks into court to prove the contents are not harmful.

Mr Powlesland, who set up a trust to clean up the river in 2019, complied but added: “I didn’t swallow any. I love my river, but I’m not entirely confident about what Thames Water might have put in it.”

The judge looked at him with a “slightly perplexed, but friendly” expression when he told him he wanted to swear on a river but accepted provided he made an affirmation to tell the truth. An affirmation is an alternative non-religious oath.

Mr Powlesland told the judge that nature was his god and that he treated the River Roding with the same “reverence, sacredness and love in action as many religious people give to their holy book”. 

He said that he was neither Christian nor an atheist, but compared his belief as being “adjacent to Christian spirituality”.

“I relate to nature as divine and believe our society needs to as well if we are going to stop destroying nature and ultimately ourselves,” he said.

Pilgrim’s progress

Last month, he completed a five-day pilgrimage, walking from London to Canterbury with no money, tent or phone and sleeping in hedges or taking sanctuary in church porches during rainy nights.

On reaching Canterbury Cathedral, he received a blessing from the vice-dean and visited the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket, where he “gave thanks for my journey and the blessings that had been bestowed”.

He said: “I believe one of the reasons our society is so destructive towards nature is because we’ve lost the idea of it being sacred.”

But, he said that he manifests that reverence for nature in the way that he lives his life and cares for the river through physical action, removing rubbish from it, planting trees nearby, campaigning against water pollution and working to bring back public access.

According to his chambers’ website, Mr Powlesland specialises in “upholding the rights of environmental activists to protest and protect the natural world, and uses environmental law and regulations to defend trees, rivers and wildlife”.

During the lunch break, he went for a dip in Eagle Pond, in the grounds of the court, which he said he was delighted to discover fed into a stream that flows into the Roding, which is the third biggest river in London.

Jurors can swear to tell the truth according to their own religion. A Hindu would substitute Gita for Almighty God, a Muslim Allah, a Sikh Guru Nanak.

Even if a juror has no religious belief, taking an oath using a Bible, for example, “shall not for any purpose affect the validity of the oath”, according to the Oaths Act of 1978.

Anyone who objects to being sworn is allowed to make a “solemn affirmation” instead of taking an oath.

A Labour council has been accused of launching an attack on British farmers with a “draconian” meat and dairy ban.

Calderdale council, in West Yorkshire, has become the latest in a string of town halls to implement “100 per cent plant-based catering” at events to reduce its carbon footprint.

The move, agreed at a meeting of the council last week, provoked a backlash from countryside campaigners, who urged Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, to condemn the policy.

An increasing number of local authorities, including Labour-controlled Enfield in London and Oxford city council, have introduced meat and dairy bans or signed so-called plant-based treaties in a bid to be more environmentally friendly.

But the trend has been resisted by some rural communities, with 10 councils – including Suffolk, Cornwall and Dorset – voting in favour of an alternative motion from the Countryside Alliance to keep meat and dairy on the menu.

The policy agreed by Calderdale last week states that catering provided at meetings and events hosted by the council on its own premises must be “100 per cent plant based”. It should also be “focused on wholefood which is minimally processed, and where possible should be locally sourced and seasonal”.

‘Attack on farming’

The ban specifically covers catering funded by the council, and does not apply to food purchased by staff for their own consumption, or for individuals, such as children in care.

Drinks are also exempt, although plant-based alternatives to milk should be provided at council events.

Mo Metcalf-Fisher, director of external affairs at the Countryside Alliance, said: “It is incredibly concerning to see a Labour council introduce such a draconian and anti-livestock farming policy. This represents an attack on farming and freedom of choice, which I only hope Steve Reed and the Labour Party condemn utterly.

“If the council truly cared about achieving net zero, it would commit to reducing emissions from food miles by sourcing local produce – be it meat, dairy, or plant-based – at all events, following on from many other councils across the UK.”

The plans, first endorsed by cabinet members in June, prompted concerns from the National Farmers Union, which argued that “removing certain products from our diets misses the point of a sustainable food system”.

‘Too simplistic’

In a letter to the council’s leader and chief executive, Rachel Hallos, the union’s vice-president, said: “Many organisations need to consider how they can play their part in our collective climate change challenge, just as farmers like myself across the country are doing.

“But banning all red meat and dairy, regardless of where and how it is produced, is too simplistic an approach for such a complex issue.”

Calderdale council has been approached for comment.