Southport survivor reveals how she tried saving children from ‘possessed’ killer

The yoga teacher who was repeatedly stabbed in the Southport attacks has spoken out for the first time about the attack which left three children dead.

On July 29 last year, 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana launched a frenzied knife attack which left Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and six-year-old Bebe King dead at a ‘Taylor Swift’ dance class.

He was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January, convicted of the attempted murders of eight other kids, along with businessman John Hayes and class instructor Leanne Lucas.

Ms Lucas spoke to BBC’s Panorama for the first time since the attacks unfolded last July when she suffered stab wounds to her spine, head, ribs, lung and shoulder blade.

‘He opened the door and just grabbed a child. I didn’t know what he was doing. He then grabbed the next child. And the next child. And then I shouted: “Who is that?” Then I struggle to get that part of the memory back because he moves from the girls at the table and he moves over to right next to me.

‘I just felt something go in my back … and my brain just said: He’s got me. So he got me and then he got me again. But I just knew that if I didn’t get out, everyone was going to die.’

Ms Lucas saved many children during the horror attack (Picture: BBC)

Even with stab wounds, the yoga instructor and her friend, dance teacher Heidi Liddle, were able to get several children out of the room.

She said: ‘He was bigger than me and I just thought I needed to get some help. So, we were shouting: ‘Run’, and I called 999 from the landing and asked for the police.

‘I just wanted everyone to get out of the building. I just kept saying: “There’s children inside. There are children inside” … My brain’s going 100 miles an hour but my body won’t do anything.

‘And then people are asking me questions and I’m just saying: “Go and get the children.” I just don’t know what else I could’ve done … You just don’t feel brave when you’re an adult …

‘The police said we’d all be dead if me and Heidi hadn’t done what we’d done, and that gives nothing for like the children who did die. Like, that doesn’t take that away.’

Sir Keir Starmer said the atrocity in Southport was ‘one of the most harrowing moments in our country’s history’, adding: ‘We owe it to these innocent young girls and all those affected to deliver the change that they deserve.’

Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar were killed (Picture: PA)

Fourteen-year-old Sarah – a fellow survivor whose identity is protected by a court order – also spoke to Panorama, telling the BBC of how she managed to fight through serious injury to lead several of the children to safety.

She said: ‘I saw him stab a child in front of me. And then I saw the knife coming towards me and him coming towards me. And that’s when I saw it go into my arm. And that’s when I turned and he must have got my back, but I didn’t feel it at the time, because of the adrenaline …

‘I remember his eyes the most because he looked possessed and not human … I remember seeing the girls all like huddling around the stairs. So I remember shouting for them to get down and get out.

‘So I was physically pushing them down the stairs to get everyone out. I thought that he wasn’t going to stop until he killed everyone.’

Rudakubana was found guilty of the stabbings in January, but Ms Lucas said she still feels angry.

‘We knew he did it. He knew he did it. Every single person knew he did it. And he waited until the day of trial to say: ‘Guilty’, and put every single family, victim, witness, everyone in that position,’ she said.

‘It’s so shocking at how much evidence they had on him, at how he slipped through the net. Like, you know, when he was found with a knife on a bus. I mean I struggle to hear that and I don’t imagine what the bereaved families feel when they hear stuff like that.’

The horrific case caught international media attention (Picture: PA)

Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty in court (Picture: PA)

Earlier this month, the parents of six-year-old Bebe King and Elsie Stancombe, seven, spoke about their memories of the girls who, along with nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, died.

Bebe King’s parents, who can’t be named for legal reasons, described their daughter as a hilarious little girl who operated on a ‘high frequency’.

They recalled the touching last moments they shared with Bebe, as they kissed her goodbye, burying her in her pyjamas after reading her a favourite book and having her christened.

Jenni Stancombe, 35, remembered her daughter Elsie as a little girl who was ‘grateful for life’ and incredibly empathetic.

Elsie died from her injuries sustained in the attack. Her funeral, held in Birkdale, was akin to a ‘state funeral’ with the amount of people who showed up.

‘There were thousands,’ David told the Times. But life has changed for the family.

‘You know you say to your kids every day, every night, ‘I won’t let anything happen to you?’

‘How could I say that to [Elsie’s sibling] now? Because this has happened to Elsie. How could I sit there and say, ‘I would never let anything happen to you’?’

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