Parents of Southport victims relive day of attack in new heartbreaking tribute

The families of two of the young girls stabbed to death in the Southport attack have spoken about their heartbreak for the first time as they reveal what happened on that day.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were killed in a knife attack at The Hart Space in Merseyside on July 29.

Killer Axel Rudakubana, 18, entered the building just before midday in a plan to ‘kill as many people as he could’.

He was ordered out of his sentencing hearing numerous times due to random outbursts, but was eventually sentenced to at least 52 years in jail.

Rudakubana, then 17, stabbed 10 others in the attack, with the descriptions of what happened inside the building being so horrific the families of the victims begged the media to not report on the full extent of it.

Now the parents of Elsie and Bebe have now spoken out for the first time since their deaths, to make sure the girls are remembered for their ‘happy personalities’ rather than the attacks.

Jenni Stancombe, Elsie’s mum, told The Sunday Times she is worried she will never be able to find the words to do her daughter justice.

She said: ‘It was an honour to be her mum. Sometimes I think people are born special, and I genuinely believe she was.’

Jenni and her husband David had hired Leanne Lucas, who ran the Taylor Swift dance class, as a tutor to help Elsie with her reading and writing.

Ms Lucas suffered life changing injuries as she tried desperately to save the children from the attacker.

Jenni said: ‘Elsie went to Leanne for 18 months for private tutoring every Saturday morning. I was just trying to give her a better start in life, that’s all it was.’

As the parents dropped Elsie off at the dance class, Ms Lucas picked her up and told her how much she had missed her.

Just a few hours later, Jenni got a call from another saying: ‘Something awful has happened. Somebody’s stabbed the kids.’

She said she managed to do the five minute drive to the scene in just one minute, beeping her horn the whole way and running through red lights.

Police stopped the parents from entering the scene, and they were later told Elsie had died in the building.

David said: ‘No human being should ever have to witness what we witnessed on that day.’

Bebe’s parents, who cannot be named due to a court order, said their daughter had an ‘innate kindness to her’.

Her mum said: ‘One of the things that was really special about her was that she was hilarious. Even as a baby she would have me belly laughing.’

Bebe’s dad, who works for HMRC, described his daughter as being ‘so confident’.

Thinking back to her birthday parties, he remembered Bebe ‘going up to the shyer children and literally just pulling them in’.

After hearing news of the attack, the parents desperately searched the streets for Bebe, and thought she would be other children taking refuge inside a neighbouring house.

Bebe’s dad said: ‘We had given people Bebe’s description. When that person came towards me, I could feel the blood drain from me and I went cold.

‘I knew she was going to tell me something. And she did. “Are you Bebe’s dad?” As soon as I said yes she said she had passed away.’

When Bebe’s mum heard the news, she dropped to her knees screaming – but cannot remember this moment.

She said: ‘They told me Bebe had died when I was standing on the corner of a street.’

She said her sister’s wedding, which was due to take place the next day, was cancelled.

Rudakubana was branded ‘pure evil’ by the families of two of his victims, who sat through some of the most harrowing evidence ever detailed in a British courtroom.

Liverpool Crown Court heard he gloated about the killings while being held in a custody suite following his arrest, telling police ‘I’m so glad the children are dead, so glad’.

Handing him 13 life sentences and ordering he serve a minimum term of 52 years, Mr Justice Goose said: ‘It is highly likely he will never be released.’

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