Teacher who survived Southport attack says girls’ memories are ‘a driving force’

A dance teacher injured in the Southport knife attack that left three girls dead has said the victims’ memories should be a “driving force” for change.

Leanne Lucas was overseeing a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside, on July 29 when Axel Rudakubana, then aged 17, entered the building armed with a knife and attacked children and adults.

Bebe King, six, Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died after the stabbing at the Hart Space.

On Tuesday, Ms Lucas spoke publicly for the first time since the killings during a candlelit vigil to remember the women and girls who have lost their lives to male violence.

She told LBC Radio the attack left her and her community feeling “very unsafe”, but she hopes the girls’ memories can prompt change so a similar incident cannot happen again.

She said: “My purpose was creating wellbeing events for children and families, and for that to happen where I was, and for the words I spoke and the children spoke, for that to be trampled over has just really dampened all of our spirits, feeling unsafe, feeling like we just lost faith in the world really.

Ms Lucas, for whom more than £41,000 was raised to support her recovery after the attack, added there had been “glimmers” amid the horror.

“I try to resemble it as us being connected by an invisible piece of string. We’re all connected in the most horrible way.

“Sometimes that string will fray and tangle and knot, but at the best of times, it will wrap together and it’s brought a lot of us closer, creating kindness and warmth, and it’s created a strong force that almost we couldn’t have imagined would be possible out of something so horrific.

“There has been a lot of love come from Southport, a lot of love come from all over the world.

She added: “Hopefully people will be hearing a lot more from me in the future, after everything’s happened and things are finished, I’m hoping my voice will get louder and louder and people will join me in that.”

Axel Rudakubana, now aged 18, is charged with the murders of Alice, Bebe and Elsie and the attempted murders of eight other children, Ms Lucas and businessman John Hayes, and possession of a knife.

He was charged last month with the additional offences of production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

This came after police searches of his home in Banks, Lancashire, in the days after the attack led to the discovery of a PDF file titled Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants, The Al Qaeda Training Manual.