The parents of the three young girls killed in the Southport attack have delivered heart-wrenching testimonies at a public inquiry, demanding truth, accountability, and urgent change to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again. The emotional hearing, held at Liverpool Town Hall on September 15, 2025, brought together the families of Elsie Dot Stancombe, Bebe King, and Alice da Silva Aguiar—whose lives were stolen during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29, 2024.
The attack, which unfolded at a dance studio on Hart Street, Southport, left not only three families shattered but also a community in mourning. Eight other children and two adults were seriously wounded in the assault, which has since prompted a wide-reaching inquiry into the events leading up to and following the tragedy. The inquiry, chaired by Sir Adrian Fulford, aims to examine the killer’s background and the involvement of various agencies, with the hope of understanding how such an atrocity could occur in what should have been a safe space for children.
Monday’s session was set aside for the parents of the three murdered girls to address the inquiry directly. Each family’s statement painted a vivid and devastating picture of loss, confusion, and the desperate search for answers in the aftermath of the attack. Their voices, at times trembling and at others rising in anger, called for those responsible—not just the perpetrator, but anyone whose failures may have contributed to the events—to be held to account.
Lauren King, mother of six-year-old Bebe King, spoke with a mix of heartbreak and fury. Describing Bebe as “joyful,” “hilarious,” and “magical,” Lauren told the inquiry that her bond with her daughter had been “spiritual.” She did not hide her anger, declaring, “This was preventable. And no other child, no other family, no other community should ever endure what we now live with every single day.” She recounted the agonizing hours spent searching for news about Bebe, recalling how she and her husband Ben had wandered the streets in the intense heat, not knowing whether their daughter was alive. “These are moments no form of therapy can ever resolve,” she said. Lauren ended with a plea: “We will carry her in our hearts for the rest of our lives. But those sitting here today carry a responsibility too: to make sure no other child, no other sister, no other family ever suffers what ours has suffered.”
Alexandra and Sergio Aguiar, parents of nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, shared their own harrowing experience through a statement read by their lawyer, Chris Walker. Alexandra described a scene of “panic and terror” upon arriving to collect Alice, with “injured little girls” scattered across the car park. She ran into the building, where the killer was still being detained by police, and was confronted by “devastation everywhere, blood smeared on the walls, cries and sobs of little girls in fear and agony from their wounds.” Alexandra found her daughter outside, being tended to by paramedics. Despite being rushed to Southport hospital, Alice succumbed to her injuries after 13 hours. “We just hope that she couldn’t feel any pain and that she wasn’t scared,” Alexandra wrote. “This haunts us both. We live with this thought most days now.”
Jenni and David Stancombe, parents of seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, spoke of their “perfect life” before the attack and how it was “destroyed” in an instant. Jenni described the moment she received the call that would change everything: “The scream I let out when I was told someone had just stabbed the girls. David ran down the stairs screaming ‘what’s happened’ but I was already out the door.” The couple drove frantically to the scene, abandoning their car in the middle of the road and running to the dance studio. Police officers had to physically restrain David from entering the building. Jenni searched among the wounded children for Elsie, repeatedly asked by police what her daughter was wearing. Eventually, a police officer told David that a child matching Elsie’s description was still inside and had not survived. “David knelt down in front of me and just looked at me. I didn’t believe them. I didn’t want to believe them,” Jenni said. She later reflected, “The life we had worked so hard to build for our girls destroyed in that moment. Our lives to never be the same again… We lost our best friend, the little person who made us ‘Mum and Dad’, her sister lost her forever best friend, we lost Elsie.”
Jenni also described the unimaginable pain of having to explain Elsie’s death to her younger sister. “She kept asking repeatedly: ‘When is she coming home?’ and we had to tell her: ‘She’s not, it’s not that she doesn’t want to, she can’t.’” Jenni’s testimony underscored the lasting trauma inflicted on families and the urgent need for systemic change. “This should never have happened in a safe and just society, this cannot happen, no other parent should feel this pain,” she told the inquiry. “Changes need to be made to prevent this from ever happening again.”
All three families emphasized that the problem goes deeper than the weapon used in the attack. “The issue runs much deeper than the weapon that was used,” Jenni Stancombe said. “It’s about the root causes, the drive, the intent, and the series of failures that allowed it to happen.” Their statements collectively called for a thorough examination of the systems and agencies that may have missed warning signs or failed to intervene. The inquiry, they insisted, must be more than a formality—it must deliver real change to protect other children and families.
The man responsible for the attack, Axel Rudakubana, is now serving a 52-year life sentence for the murders of the three girls and the attempted murders of ten others, including eight children. But for the families left behind, justice is not simply a matter of sentencing. They seek answers about how the killer was able to carry out such violence, and what can be done to ensure that no other parent faces the same nightmare.
Sir Adrian Fulford, the inquiry chairman, drew the day’s hearing to a close after hearing the families’ statements, announcing that the inquiry would resume at Liverpool Town Hall on Tuesday at 10:00 BST. As the inquiry continues, the families’ demands for truth, accountability, and meaningful change echo across Southport and beyond, serving as a powerful reminder of the lives lost and the urgent work that remains.
For these families and for the wider community, the scars of July 29, 2024, are still fresh. Their testimonies—raw, honest, and determined—have set a clear expectation: that this inquiry must not only uncover what went wrong, but also become a catalyst for lasting change so that no other family endures the pain they now carry every day.
