On September 8, 2025, Liverpool Town Hall became a place of raw emotion and searching questions as parents, witnesses, and survivors gathered for the latest hearings of the Southport Inquiry. The proceedings, covered by multiple outlets including BBC News, ITV News, and Planet Rock, focused on the devastating knife attack that took place just over a year prior at a Taylor Swift-themed children’s dance class in Southport. The attack, which occurred on July 29, 2024, left three young girls dead—Alice da Silva Aguiar, aged nine; Bebe King, six; and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven—and ten others wounded, forever altering the lives of their families and the wider community.
The public inquiry, reopened to examine potential failings by agencies involved with the attacker, Axel Rudakubana, provided a platform for those affected to share the lasting impact of that day. Parents whose children survived the attack, as well as individuals who intervened, delivered heart-wrenching impact statements that painted a vivid picture of trauma, grief, and resilience.
One mother, whose two daughters attended the ill-fated dance class, recounted the moment her world was upended. She described receiving a phone call from her husband that will haunt her forever: “You need to get here now. The kids have been stabbed.” According to Planet Rock, she recalled the frantic drive to the Hart Space, the dance studio where the attack unfolded. “Shock took over instantly. I couldn’t make sense of the words. I went to my neighbour to drive me to the scene, it was the slowest journey to get there.”
Her husband had already entered the building, desperately searching for their daughters amid the chaos. “He relives these moments daily,” she told the inquiry, explaining that their eldest daughter had suffered a chest wound and required blood transfusions. The scene that greeted her upon arrival was, in her words, “reserved for nightmares.” She added, “It felt as though I was watching from outside of my own body, like someone was living my life, within a film. Emergency services were everywhere, children lay hurt around me, I didn’t want to see. I didn’t want to know.”
Another mother, whose child was not physically injured but deeply traumatized, described the moment she arrived at the dance studio. She was “confronted by a scene that looked like something from a film set,” with children lying on the floor and blood smeared along the walls. She chose not to describe in detail what she saw in the studio, except to say, “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.” Though her daughter was found sheltering in a nearby house, the mother emphasized, “The trauma, the damage, was already done.”
John Hayes, a local businessman and grandfather whose office was in the same building as the dance studio, was among those who intervened during the attack. As reported by ITV News, Hayes recounted, “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.”
He didn’t immediately realize he had been stabbed, but soon saw blood pouring from his leg—a wound later revealed to be 10 centimeters deep. Hayes told the inquiry, “My scar is a physical reminder” of the attack, and he suffered constant flashbacks for the first six months. He described the scene as “like something from a horror movie, it was like someone had painted the walls red.”
For many families, the psychological toll has been immense and ongoing. The mother of child U, in a statement read by her lawyer, spoke of her daughter being “changed forever” and in a state of “constant vigilance.” She said, “She 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.”
Social media, the inquiry heard, compounded the impact of the attack in the days and weeks that followed. The mother of two daughters explained that while her family refused to let the tragedy “define us,” the aftermath was made more difficult by the relentless coverage and commentary online. She shared a poignant moment when her youngest daughter said, “I miss Alice,” a simple statement that underscored the depth of loss felt by survivors and their friends.
Some parents directed their grief and anger toward the systems that, in their view, failed to prevent the tragedy. The mother of child M posed a series of pointed questions to the inquiry: “Why was this allowed to happen? 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?” She implored the inquiry, “This 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 BBC News and ITV News both reported, the inquiry was adjourned at the end of the day, with more impact statements scheduled for September 9, 2025. The hearings are expected to continue throughout the week, offering further opportunities for survivors and families to share their stories and for the inquiry to examine the actions—or inactions—of the agencies involved with Axel Rudakubana before the attack.
The public and the media have followed the proceedings closely, with BBC News providing live coverage and summaries of each day’s evidence. ITV News highlighted the reopening of the inquiry and the determination of parents to ensure their voices are heard. The hope among many is that these deeply personal testimonies will not only honor the memories of Alice, Bebe, and Elsie, but also drive meaningful reform to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again.
With more witnesses and parents scheduled to give evidence, the coming days promise further revelations and, perhaps, some answers to the anguished questions posed by those whose lives were forever changed on that summer day in Southport.
