Boy, 17, ‘arrives at court’ to face murder charges over Southport deaths

A white prison van arrived at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court at around 9.30am flanked by a large escort of police vehicles.

A 17-year-old boy appears to have arrived at court to face charges of murdering three girls who were fatally stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

A white prison van arrived at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court at around 9.30am on Thursday flanked by a large escort of police vehicles.

Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were fatally stabbed on Monday when a knifeman entered the dance class on Hart Street in Southport, Merseyside.

Eight other children suffered knife wounds – with five of them in a critical condition – while two adults were also critically hurt.

Southport incident — Six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, were killed in a “ferocious” knife attack during a Taylor Swift event at a dance school on Monday (Merseyside Police/PA)

Merseyside Police announced they were charging the boy at a midnight press conference on Thursday.

He cannot be named as he is under 18.

Police officers outside a damaged butchers shop on Murray Street in Hartlepool following an evening of unrest (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Thousands of people turned out to pay their respects to the victims at a vigil in Southport on Tuesday evening, but violence later erupted outside a mosque in the town with 53 police officers and three police dogs injured.

Police officers and a police van block the vehicle entrance at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court (Danny Lawson/PA)

Protesters, chanting “you’re not English any more” and throwing bottles and cans at police in riot gear, were detained on Whitehall while in Hartlepool, County Durham, a police car was set alight and glass bottles and eggs were thrown at officers.