Victim, 9, said she was having 'best day of my life' before Southport attack, dance teacher reveals

A yoga teacher who was repeatedly stabbed in the Southport attacks has told how one of he victims had declared it was the “best day of my life” shortly before the stabbing.

Leanne Lucas described helping several children to run to safety, adding she felt she had to survive in order to save those in her class.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, murdered Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a Taylor Swift-themed class in the Merseyside town in July last year, when he was 17.

Rudakubana – who was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January – attempted to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as businessman John Hayes and class instructor Leanne Lucas.

In the first witness accounts of the attack, Ms Lucas said she had gathered the 25 children together near the end of the session to discuss how they were feeling after the class.

"We went round the circle and they said how they were feeling and one of the little girls said: 'This is the best day of my life'," Leanne said. The girl was Alice da Silva Aguiar, who died later that night.

Dance teacher Leanne Lucas, who was repeatedly stabbed in the Southport attacks, being interviewed for BBC's Panorama. | PA

In an interview with the BBC’s Panorama, Ms Lucas told the programme how she was able to get herself and several children out of the room, despite suffering stab wounds to her spine, head, ribs, lung and shoulder blade.

She told the broadcaster: “(Rudakubana) 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 shout: ‘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 sustained five stab wounds to her spine, head, ribs, lung and shoulder blade.

Despite this, 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 need to get some help. So, we were shouting: ‘Run’, and I call 999 from the landing and ask for the police.

“(I) just wanted everyone to get out of the building.

“I just kept saying: ‘There’s children inside. There’s 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 the 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.”

The minimum term Rudakubana must serve in custody for the Southport attack is one of the highest on record, and is thought to be the longest punishment handed to a killer of his age.

Sir Keir Starmer said the atrocity in Southport was “one of the most harrowing moments in our country’s history”, and “this vile offender will likely never be released”.

He added: “We owe it to these innocent young girls and all those affected to deliver the change that they deserve.”

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.”

Police discovered a number of devices during a search of Rudakubana’s home in Banks, Lancashire.

The 18-year-old cleared his internet history before he left to travel to The Hart Space just after 11am.

A search on social media site X for the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, made minutes before he left home, was the only thing that remained, police have said.

The FBI and US Department of Justice have since agreed to help UK police investigate Rudakubana.

Speaking about life since the attack, Ms Lucas said: “I found out he’d pleaded guilty on the news … it’s hard, because I felt so 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.

“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.”

She added: “The only reason to survive is the fact that I did get out and I am alive and the fact that the girls aren’t, and really, I’ve got to stay alive for them, otherwise what’s the point?

“These children represent goodness, I think. Just pure goodness. Happiness. How genuine they were. Positive. Their love of life. And just making the best out of every single moment. That’s how I remember them.”