Southport survivor fought to save others, says mum

A seven-year-old Southport survivor "fought like hell" to save herself and others as the attack took place, her mother has told a public inquiry.

The Southport Inquiry heard statements from the families of four girls who survived despite being severely injured during the attacks on 29 July 2024.

The mother of one of those girls, referred to as C1 to protect her anonymity, said the "most painful of truths" about the attacks carried out by 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana was that there were no adults to help her.

C1 was stabbed 33 times at the dance workshop in Southport's Hart Street and was airlifted to Alder Hey Children's Hospital.

• Rudakubana's brother denied full inquiry access

Parents of the survivors gave more than two hours of moving testimony during the hushed hearing at Liverpool Town Hall earlier.

C1's mother said she had become known as "the girl who was dragged back in", after CCTV footage shown in court captured the moment C1, already wounded, had tried to escape the dance studio building.

It showed Rudakubana grabbing her and pulling her backwards into the building to inflict more damage before she escaped, eventually collapsing on the street.

The town hall chamber heard that C1's injuries were "vast" and covered "so much of her body and organs".

Her mother said: "The damage was catastrophic. The hours and days that followed the attack were a living hell."

The inquiry heard how her daughter had shielded other children as they were attacked and screamed at them to run.

She said that she did not doubt "for one moment" that the actions of the teachers in the class, Leanne Lucas and Heidi Liddle, helped saved lives when they encouraged children to flee.

However she added: "The uncomfortable and often unspoken truth of our own reality is that, when the adults left in those first moments, our daughter had to save herself.

"It is these untold stories of remarkable strength and bravery that are missing when we have heard other accounts of this day.

"I think it is vitally important that those girls are now heard, so that the inquiry can understand the complexities of this experience for everyone."

She added: "That reality is painful - our children fought alone, they shielded each other, comforted each other, and helped each other and that must be remembered."

The inquiry also heard from the father of C3, a nine-year-old girl who was also critically injured that day.

He told the inquiry his daughter was: "Stabbed three times in the back by a coward she didn't even see."

"She bears the scars, both physically and emotionally, of that terrible day," he said.

"We know that she is only a small way down the path that life will take her, and that obstacles will continue to present themselves along the way."

Another statement, read by Nicola Ryan-Donnelly, solicitor to the parents of surviving girls, said a "creative" and "full-of-life" seven-year-old remembers the attack "vividly" including how Rudakubana "tried to get her face".

"Where she was once an independent and joyful child she now needs constant support, reassurance and protection", her mother had written.

The inquiry has adjourned until 8 September and is expected to hear evidence about the circumstances of the attack and Rudakubana's contact with various agencies in the months and years before it.

The second phase, expected to start next year, will look at wider issues around how young people become drawn into "extreme violence".

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.