A Southport survivor has called for a ban on pointed kitchen knives and revealed she is still too traumatised to use one herself following the horrific attack last year.
Leanne Lucas, 36, was critically injured after she tried to protect innocent children from a knifeman who went on a rampage during a dance class on July 19.
The primary school teacher was leading a group of young girls in a Taylor Swift-themed yoga class in Southport when Axel Rudakubana, 18, burst in and fatally stabbed Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine.
In January the killer admitted to carrying out a ‘meticulously-planned rampage’ which claimed the lives of the three young girls and was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years.
But for the counsellor-in-training, who was hailed as a hero for using her body as a shield to protect her pupils, it isn’t enough.
In an interview with The Times, Ms Lucas said she is still grieving and had never expected knife crime to affect her life.
While her physical wounds have healed, the psychological scars continue to shape her life.
The teacher revealed she is constantly wondering if something bad will happen to her when she goes out and is hyper-vigilant of possible escape routes and the location of her phone is in case she needs to call the police.
Leanne Lucas, 36, has called for a ban on pointed kitchen knives and revealed she is still too traumatised to use one herself following the horrific attack last year in Southport
Axel Rudakubana , 18, (pictured) burst in to a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga class and fatally stabbed Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, ninein July last year
Ms Lucas even confessed she doesn’t feel safe in her own home and can’t bring herself to cook after the shocking attack.
She said: ‘I didn’t realise how afraid I felt in my own kitchen; I haven’t cooked since the summer. I think part of that reason is subconsciously I’ve got a fear.’
She added that she lives with her parents because it’s the only place she is not constantly looking over her shoulder.
Because of her chilling experience, Ms Lucas has set up a campaign calling for the adoption of round-tipped knives.
Rudakubana attacked the dance class last year with one of two 20-centimetre kitchen knives he had bought on Amazon for £3.40 each, bypassing security checks.
After her horrific experiences, the teacher had assumed there would be tighter controls around kitchen knives and was shocked to find there weren’t.
She said: ‘Every time I learnt something new, I’d think, “That doesn’t sound right. Surely there are laws in place so that couldn’t have happened.” The more my eyes have been opened, the more I’ve been able to formulate an idea.’
She also credited actor Idris Elba’s knife crime documentary for giving her the courage to launch her campaign.
Alice Dasilva Aguiar, aged nine, was killed in the rampage
Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged seven, was fatally wounded in the attack which shocked the nation
Bebe King, aged six, was killed in the violent attack
Ms Lucas said that while the physical wounds of the attack have healed she constantly feels unsafe and doesn’t believe she can ever return to teaching
Earlier this year the Luther star told the BBC: ‘Not all kitchen knives need to have a point on them, that sounds like a crazy thing to say but you can still cut your food without the point on your knife, which is an innovative way to look at it.’
And Ms Lucas said that as soon as she saw blunt-tipped knives she questioned why pointed knives were a staple in kitchens across the UK at all.
Last year there were 233 knife-enabled homicides, up slightly on the 226 in the previous year.
Some 5,411 offences classed as knife-enabled threats to kill were recorded in 2023/24, and the number of offences classed as ‘possession of article with a blade or point’ stood at 27,470.
In response to these shocking figures, the brave teacher is launching Let’s Be Blunt in conjunction with Knife Crime Awareness Week, and is calling for the widespread adoption of rounded kitchen knives.
Ms Lucas is calling for all homes, manufacturers, retailers and the government to adopt the change and move away from pointed knives.
She has suggested taking an inventory of all the sharp instruments in the home and explained that many will likely find more sharp knives than they had expected.
As part of her campaign, supporters can pledge their commitment to exchanging their pointed knives for round tip ones.
In January the killer admitted to carrying out a ‘meticulously-planned rampage’ which claimed the lives of the three young girls and was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years
Since her terrifying ordeal, Ms Lucas has met with members of the royal family and MPs and revealed it was an honour to meet the Prince and Princess of Wales.
She said she felt she had real support from them during their visit to pay their respects to the victims of the stabbings.
Ms Lucas added that she also felt supported by Sir Keir Starmer who, she said, assured her that changes were being made.
The previous government had plans in place to tighten laws on so-called zombie knives and machetes, but stopped short of proposing an outright ban on ninja swords.
Labour said it will introduce ‘strict sanctions’ on senior executives of online companies who illegally sell knives.
They have also pledged to introduce a two-step verification for online knife sales and fines for social media executives who fail to remove content that promotes knife crime.
In the King’s Speech in July last year, the government made a general pledge to halve serious violence over the next decade.
Despite the support Ms Lucas confessed she is also angry.
The campaigner revealed she feels frustrated that she has to speak out to make a change and called on policy makers to do better.
She said: ‘There is this anger in me: why do I have to say this? Why is it up to survivors to make a difference?’.
While she is passionate about her new campaign, the dance teacher confessed she had never envisaged herself in this role and revealed she doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to return to teaching.
She said: ‘I feel like I can’t be a teacher any more – just that level of responsibility … It makes me really sad and I try not to think about it.’
Instead she is throwing herself in to her work and considering working with children in a different capacity as she speaks out against knife crime.
