Southport, one year on: Seaside town still in mourning readies itself for an 'emotional day' as the first anniversary of horror killing spree that left three girls dead, families torn apart and all of Britain in shock arrives

Daily Mail​

7 days ago

Exactly a year ago sadistic Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana savaged children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance class.
Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, all died and eight more children aged between seven and 13 suffered knife wounds, as did dance teacher Leanne Lucas while trying to protect the children.
To remember the devastating day, the Merseyside town will hold a three-minute silence and lower flags on public buildings.
But the families of the three girls who were murdered have asked for no flowers to be left at schools or the scene of the killings and for no vigils or large public gatherings.
To respect their wishes, public bodies will not call the day an anniversary.
Patrick Hurley, the MP for Southport told The Guardian it would be a 'really emotional day' for the town which bore the 'long-lasting detrimental psychological and emotional impact of the attack.'
He added: 'We know that what happened in July last year is always going to be a part of the town's history but there's so much more than that.
'It's a day to remember the girls who were killed and it's a day to remember the response of the community when everybody came out and supported everbody else.'
In an attack that prosecutors described as a 'meticulously-planned rampage' the knife-wielding maniac knifed as many children as he could within 12 minutes.
Businessman John Hayes, who rushed to the scene from his office nearby and attempted to overpower Rudakubana, was also stabbed.
Others nearby who heard screams also hurried to the scene and police arrived, bringing the horrific incident to an end.
One of the officers who was called was Sergeant Greg Gillespie.
Describing his experience of the traumatic, he told the BBC about the 'fear' he saw in people's faces - even recalling seeing a little girl he thought to be dead.
He said: 'I don't think there's any amount of training or experience that can quite prepare you to deal with something like that or to process it.
'Everyone now knows the sequence of events that occurred that day - that wasn't known to us at the time.'
He added that all they knew was that a child had been stabbed and 'the offender was in the building.'
Sergeant Gillespie, alongside PC Luke Holden and PCSO Timothy Parry all arrived at the scene but without any understanding of the scale of the stabbing.
Sergeant Gillespie and PC Holden entered the building 'shoulder to shoulder' and were immediately faced with 17-year-old Rudakubana, who 'showed' them the blood-stained knife.
All three officers were recognised at the Police Federation of England and Wales 2025 bravery awards.
PC Holden told the BBC: 'My hyper-vigilance increased 1,000% and I was wary of everyone in every situation.
'You start thinking worst case of every situation you deal with.
All the officers said the attack changed their lives.
Rudakubana was given a life sentence, with a minimum term of 52 years - one of the highest on record - after pleading guilty to the three murders and 10 attempted murders, plus other offences, including making the deadly toxin ricin, in January.
Police intelligence officers are monitoring social media to look for any attempts to stir up disorder in or around Southport this week.
They want to prevent a repeat of the anti-immigration riots that spread across England after the attack last summer.
Meanwhile, Southport's town hall gardens are set to undergo a £10million renovation to commemorate the girls.
Their families said they hoped the new square and community space would serve as 'a legacy inspired by our three beautiful amazing girls'.
There is currently an inquiry investigating how various agencies, including the police, the courts, the NHS and social services, failed to spot the risk posed by Rudakubana, 18, in the run-up to the attack.
Rudakubana had been referred to Prevent, the Government's counter-terror programme, three times but his case was closed prematurely because he did not have a clear political or religious motivation. He had also been caught repeatedly with a knife.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs that a review of his contact with the programme found he had 'admitted to having carried a knife more than ten times, yet the action against him was far too weak'.
She said he was referred to Prevent repeatedly because he was 'expressing interest in school shootings, the London Bridge attack, the IRA, MI5 and the Middle East'.
Tablet computers at his home showed he downloaded papers on historical violence by the Nazis, Genghis Khan and even relatively obscure conflicts in French colonies during the 17th century – plus footage of beheadings and torture.
As well as the digital discoveries, a machete and scabbard, a set of arrows and a black holdall were found in Rudakubana's bedroom at the family home in Banks, Lancashire, a village five miles north of Southport.
The Prevent review, conducted since the summer, has concluded that 'too much weight was placed on the absence of ideology' and that his case 'should not have been closed' by counter-terror police who were assessing whether he posed a threat.
On the second day of the hearings, a series of moving impact statements from the parents of four of the girls who attended the holiday club, at the Hart Space, in the Merseyside seaside town, were read to a hushed council chamber at Liverpool Town Hall.
Sir Adrian said Rudakubana perpetrated 'an almost unimaginable but nonetheless mercilessly calculated' killing spree at the Taylor Swift-themed dance club.
The retired judge described the attack as 'one of the most egregious crimes in our country's history.'
Sir Adrian said it was 'truly critical' that the inquiry secured answers for the families of Rudakubana's victims and made recommendations to prevent anything similar happening in the future.
The hearings will examine why several agencies, including the police, the courts, the NHS and social services, who all had contact with Rudukabana, failed to identify the risk he posed. It will also investigate whether the attack could or should have been prevented.
Sir Adrian said that one consideration for the inquiry would be whether courts should be allowed to impose restrictions on people suspected of planning serious violent offences, even if they have not committed any crime.
It will look into whether measures, such as imposing curfews, electronic tags, internet bans or restrictions on social media use should be available in such circumstances.
Sir Adrian said the inquiry will examine whether Prevent needs to be overhauled to address those drawn into extreme violence without a clear 'religious or political cause.'
The chairman said there appeared to be several 'undisputed and troubling facts' that already suggested Rudakubana's attack was far from being 'an unforeseeable catastrophic event.'
By July last year, he had been on the radar of various State agencies for several years, had a 'known predilection for knife crime' and posed a 'very serious and significant risk of violent harm,' Sir Adrian said.
'Furthermore, his ability, unhindered, to access gravely violent material on the internet, to order knives online at a young age, and then to leave home unsupervised to commit the present attack, speaks to a wholesale and general failure to intervene effectively, or indeed at all, to address the risks that he posed,' he added.
Police discovered a sinister arsenal of weapons, including a bow and arrow, two machetes, two large kitchen knives, a sledgehammer, materials to make Molotov cocktail explosives and ingredients to make the deadly toxin ricin, at Rudakubana's home following the attack.
The widespread rioting and civil unrest following the murders is not being examined by the inquiry.
The hearings have been adjourned until September, when statements from the remaining relatives of victims and survivors are expected to continue.