The Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been accused of attempting to “manipulate the system” by the families of his victims, after it emerged he had been transferred from prison to a psychiatric hospital.

Rubakubana, 19, was jailed for life in January last year, with a minimum sentence of 52 years, for the murders of Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar.

The Guardian revealed on Thursday that Rudakubana was transferred to the high-security hospital Broadmoor from the category A prison Belmarsh after it was concluded that he could not be managed safely in jail.

Next Wednesday marks two years since he carried out the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July 2024.

The transfer does not alter the killer’s 52-year sentence.

Representing the three bereaved families, Chris Walker, of the law firm Bond Turner, said: “The three families we represent have been made aware of this development in the last 48 hours and it is safe to say that whilst this news would devastate them at any time, the fact that this has occurred as we approach the second anniversary in our view is another move by AR who would appear to be attempting, once again, to manipulate the system.

“We have been given the barest of details and whilst we are supporting the families through this we are urgently seeking a meeting with the appropriate authorities to understand the situation before commenting further.”

Prison officers levelled similar accusations against the convicted murderer. The chair of the Prison Officers’ Association, Mark Fairhurst, said in a statement: “This vile offender has played the system and will now enjoy the freedoms that are afforded mentally unwell patients in secure psychiatric hospitals, including benefits that law-abiding taxpayers will fund.

“My members will be placed at risk without the protections afforded to staff in prisons because he is now classed as a patient. He should spend his entire sentence in a prison in solitary confinement.

“My thoughts are with the families of the victims and all those affected by his heinous crimes.”

Rudakubana, from Banks, Lancashire, attacked eight other children as well as the class instructor, Leanne Lucas, and a businessman, John Hayes, who had tried to disarm him. He was also found guilty of producing the biological toxin ricin and of possessing an al-Qaida training manual, an offence under the Terrorism Act.

Alder Hey children’s NHS foundation trust previously confirmed Rudakubana had been under its care as a mental health patient between 2019 and 2023, when he “stopped engaging”. He was referred to them after taking a knife to school and later saying he had done so “to use it”.

He was also referred to the UK’s counter-extremism programme, Prevent, because he had been researching school massacres on a computer at his next school, the Acorns.

There were two other referrals to Prevent, but none were progressed as Rudakubana had no clear ideology behind his obsession with violence.

Broadmoor, in Crowthorne, Berkshire, is the oldest of England’s three high-security psychiatric hospitals. It has been used to hold some of the UK’s most notorious murderers, including Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.

Patients remain locked up, with conditions heavily regulated by strict physical security including locked wards, monitored by staff and 24-hour CCTV. They receive mandatory therapeutic and rehabilitative programmes. If offenders no longer require treatment in hospital, the 1983 Mental Health Act provides for a swift return to prison.