On a summer day in July 2024, a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport turned into a scene of unimaginable horror. The bright, music-filled room was shattered by a knife attack that left three young girls—Alice da Silva Aguiar, aged nine; Bebe King, six; and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven—dead, and ten others wounded, including eight children. The attacker, Axel Rudakubana, was just 17 years old at the time. Now, over a year later, the community, the survivors, and the families of the victims are seeking answers through a public inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall.
On September 8, 2025, the first phase of the inquiry resumed, focusing on Rudakubana’s background and whether more could have been done to prevent the tragedy. According to The Independent, the hearings are examining Rudakubana’s interactions with police, social services, and the Government’s Prevent programme—a system designed to identify and manage risks posed by individuals with violent fixations. The inquiry's chairman, Sir Adrian Fulford, previously described the attack as “one of the most egregious crimes in our country’s history.”
The inquiry has become a focal point for grief, anger, and a collective desire for change. Families of the bereaved and survivors have made it clear that they want the process to leave, in their words, “no stone unturned.” Christopher Walker, solicitor for the families, told reporters, “My clients, the three bereaved families, hope the inquiry will leave no stone unturned in establishing the facts around what led to this day. As both the chair and the Prime Minister have said, Southport must be a line in the sand, and this inquiry must lead to change. We already know that the attack was preventable. What is important to establish now is how and why.”
The pain of that day lingers powerfully. At the Liverpool Town Hall, parents of children who survived the attack gave harrowing impact statements. One mother described the moment she rushed to the Hart Space, where the attack took place: “It was a scene reserved for nightmares,” she recalled, according to BBC News. She later told the inquiry that her youngest child sometimes says, “I miss Alice.” The mother explained how social media compounded the trauma in the aftermath, but emphasized that her family refused to let it define them.
John Hayes, a grandfather and local businessman, was working in his office next to the dance studio when he heard the screams. Hayes ran into the chaos and confronted Rudakubana, an act of bravery that left him stabbed in the leg. Testifying at the inquiry, he said, “My initial feeling was one of terror, seeing a man wielding a bloody knife. That quickly turned to horror as I witnessed critically-injured children and began to realise what was happening. I grappled with the attacker and fell to the floor. Initially I didn’t even know I had been stabbed but when I looked down, I saw blood pouring out of my leg.” Hayes described his scar as a “physical reminder” of the attack and shared that he suffered constant flashbacks for the first six months after the incident.
Other parents echoed the sense of helplessness and the lasting psychological scars. The mother of child M, who survived without physical injuries but lost a friend, told the inquiry she was “haunted” by her decision to do a load of laundry before collecting her child. “Had I instead headed over earlier, could I have done something? Could I have helped? Could I have stopped the hell that person was inflicting?” she asked. When she finally arrived, she was confronted by what she described as a “scene out of a film set” with wounded children lying on the ground and blood along the walls. “That scene is burnt into my memory and is a continual companion. It haunts me, appearing both in my nightmares and during the frequent flashbacks I continue to experience daily.”
The trauma has forced some families to leave Southport altogether. Child M’s mother said her daughter only began to open up about the experience after the first anniversary of the attack. “She knew she had to run and she did. She saved herself. She looked out for other children and they looked out for her. The strength and bravery she showed, along with all of the girls there that day, should be remembered and acknowledged,” she said.
The mother of child U, who also survived, spoke through her legal representative. She described her family as “changed forever” and living in a state of “constant vigilance.” Her daughter, she said, “carries the pain of survival. There is guilt, there is sadness, there is a deep heavy grief that she cannot name but clearly feels. Both of us are haunted, powerless, because it turns out monsters really do exist.” She added, “Calling this ‘lucky’ ignores the cost of carrying it. It dismisses a lifetime of scars that you cannot see, and you cannot even begin to imagine. Lucky would be having the little girl I had before.”
The inquiry also heard from a mother whose two daughters attended the class. Her husband had called her after arriving at the scene, telling her, “You need to get here now. The kids have been stabbed.” She described her journey to the dance studio as the “slowest journey to get there,” and arriving “to a scene reserved for nightmares.” Emergency services were everywhere, and her eldest daughter needed blood transfusions after suffering a chest wound. “Shock took over instantly. I couldn’t make sense of the words,” she said. “My husband meanwhile had entered the building, witnessing true horror that will stay with him forever, and been unable to locate our daughters. He relives these moments daily.”
For many families, the inquiry is not just about understanding what happened but about demanding accountability and change. The mother of child M was blunt in her call to action: “Why was no action taken? What change is coming, not in theory but in practice? How many more lives will be destroyed before the system takes responsibility? This inquiry is the chance, maybe the only chance, to demand real answers, to expose every failing and to force meaningful and lasting change. You must take this chance and you must be the change.”
As the inquiry continues, more witnesses and parents are scheduled to give evidence. The hearings are expected to examine in detail Rudakubana’s contact with various agencies and whether missed opportunities contributed to the tragedy. The second phase will look at broader questions about how to manage risks posed by young people with violent fixations.
The families of Alice, Bebe, and Elsie, along with the survivors and the broader Southport community, remain determined that their suffering will not be in vain. As Christopher Walker put it, “We are committed to bringing about change and ensuring that the legacies of Elsie, Alice, and Bebe are of hope and joy. Our three families cling to the hope that if they tread this painful path of discovery and uncovering the truth, no other families will have to again.”
The Southport inquiry stands as a testament to the resilience of those affected and their unwavering demand for answers, accountability, and lasting change.
