‘I knew I was running for my life’: How the Southport attack happened

“The dance club was full of laughter and excitement,” is how a 14-year-old girl described the atmosphere as a group of 26 children gathered for a Taylor Swift-themed class in Southport.

Their summer holidays had just started and the sun was shining over the city as their parents dropped them off. As the orbit started, there were all indications of a good day on 29th July 2024.

But outside the classroom, a taxi driver was stalking a passenger he had just dropped off after refusing to pay.

The passenger, who was in his teens, was not dressed for the weather: the hood of his thick green hoodie was pulled tightly around his face and he was wearing a surgical mask. There was a 20 cm kitchen knife inside his pocket.

Initially, Axel Rudakubana couldn’t figure out how to enter the studio and was captured on CCTV struggling with the closed door – but then he saw another entrance and went inside.

This was, as one child survivor said, “the beginning of my nightmare”.

The attack that followed brought forward Axel Rudakubana At least 52 years in prisonAt his sentencing hearing on Thursday, details of what happened from the perspective of those involved were revealed to the public for the first time.

Warning: This article contains disturbing and disturbing details.

Descriptions from inside the dance class confirm that Rudakubana moved calmly and purposefully.

He had been planning this moment for some time. He did not hesitate, as soon as he went inside he grabbed the girl near the door and stabbed him.

As Rudakubana attacked, he did not say a word.

It took a moment for the people inside the room to realize what was happening.

One of the child victims said, “I thought the man who stabbed me was a sweeper.”

He thought it would be a practical joke, but later said: “When I saw the blood coming out of me I realized it was no joke”.

Her memories of what happened next are “hazy”, but the child said she remembers thinking: “I don’t want to die, I have to get out of here”.

Another victim said that the image of Rudakubana in her memory is that of a monster chasing her around the studio.

In court, she later told her would-be killer: “The thing I remember most about you are your eyes.

“You seemed obsessed and you didn’t seem human.”

Leanne Lucas, who was leading the dance class, first saw Rudakubana outside when she went to open the window to let some air into the hot dance studio.

He thought nothing of it until the door opened and he appeared.

What happened next, she said, left her and the girls with “wounds that we cannot ignore, wounds that we cannot move on from”.

The full horror of what was unfolding only became clear when he was stabbed in the back. Later he told the girls: “I live for you”.

Heidi Liddle, who was also supervising the class, was sitting on the floor helping kids make friendship bracelets.

By the time he realized what was happening, the speeding attacker had already done untold damage.

Heidi sprang into action and tried to run the girls towards the door.

A girl ran to the toilet on the other side of the landing and he followed her.

Heidi closed the door behind them and pressed herself against him. He told the girl, don’t make any noise.

And then the door slammed. Rudakubana was still searching for victims.

Outside, he heard the screams of children who had not managed to escape.

Rudakubana set out to kill as many children as possible: by the time the 15-minute frenzy was over, two girls were dead and one was dying.

Another eight children and two adults were stabbed. Some were fighting for their lives.

Had it not been for the quick thinking and bravery of the girls, it is certain that there would have been many more deaths.

One child remembers the world spinning in “slow motion” as Rudakubana moved toward him, attacking his friends as soon as he entered the room.

Instinct kicked in.

She remembers “physically pushing” her friends who were able to run even while running down the stairs.

When she faced Rudakubana in court after reading her statement, she told him: “I knew I was running for my life.

“I knew by your eyes that you wanted to try to kill us all.”

When he was sentenced, the judge concluded that if Rudakubana had been capable, he would have killed every child present – ​​and anyone who stood in his way.

One of the children who survived that day was stabbed 30 times. He was airlifted to hospital and doctors operated on him for six hours to try to save the use of his arms, hands and fingers.

“He saw two girls die,” his parents told investigators.

On one occasion during her recovery, the child told her parents: “I don’t know who I am anymore.”

But six months later, she is fighting back. His mother said: “We could never be more proud of what he has achieved over the last six months.

“He has completely failed to destroy her spirit, her wonderful sense of humor, her fierceness and her pure beautiful heart.”

The survivors of Southport are slowly rebuilding their lives.

The investigators who dealt with the case said they were overwhelmed by their spirit and resilience.

This came to the fore when a girl was asked what she would say when her classmates asked if she wished she had not been there that day.

She tells them, “In some ways, I wish I hadn’t.”

“But at the same time, if I hadn’t been there, someone else would have been stabbed and they could have died – so I’m glad I may have prevented someone else from getting hurt.”