The teacher who organised the Southport dance class where three young girls were stabbed to death today told a public inquiry that the attack has left her ‘excluded and ostracised’ in her hometown.
Leanne Lucas, 36, said she had been branded both a hero and a villain following the atrocity and now felt ‘exposed, criticised and unsafe’ in her own home.
In a harrowing statement to the inquiry, at Liverpool Town Hall, she said she had purposely stayed away from events in the seaside community in case her presence ‘triggered’ trauma in children who survived.
‘The attack has left me excluded from parts of my own community,’ she said.
‘There has been indication that my presence is a trigger, and so I stay away.
‘I don’t attend events. I don’t heal alongside or within my community. I feel ostracised in the very town where I built my life.’
Alice Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were killed when Axel Rudakubana went on a stabbing rampage at the Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year. He admitted murder and was jailed for a minimum of 52 years at Liverpool Crown Court, in January.
Ms Lucas was repeatedly stabbed as she and Heidi Liddle, the other teacher present at the Hart Space dance studio, tried to usher the girls, who had been making bracelets at the summer club, to safety.
Ms Lucas said that, while her physical scars have healed, her psychological ones ‘remain raw.’
Leanne Lucas pictured with pop star Taylor Swift in 2024
Ms Lucas has been unable to return to her job as a primary school teacher and yoga teacher since the attack
Ms Lucas with the Prince and Princess of Wales in 2024
Southport Inquiry Chair Sir Adrian Fulford pictured in July. The inquiry is investigating how various agencies failed to spot the risk posed by Rudakubana
The attack in the Merseyside town last July claimed the lives of Alice da Silva Aguiar, pictured left, Bebe King, right, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, centre
Southport killer Axel Rudakubana, pictured in a court sketch, was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January
She has been unable to return to her job as a primary school teacher or practice yoga or return to living alone since, and has moved back in with her parents.
‘I feel as if my identity as a teacher, as a woman living independently, as someone who inspired children and supported families was stolen from me in those moments,’ she said.
‘The online abuse has been relentless. Instead of being surrounded by the supportive community I expected, I have often felt exposed, criticised, and unsafe, even in my own home.
‘Words like ‘resilient’ are thrown at me, but I do not feel resilient. Survivors don’t get to choose resilience. We simply have no choice.
‘To some I am called a hero, to others a villain. The truth is, I am neither. I am just Leanne, the woman who did her best in an unthinkable situation.’
Ms Lucas told the inquiry she had ‘gone back and forth on whether to write this statement at all, because I never want to suggest comparison or competition in suffering.’
‘I want to say that not a day goes by when I don’t think about the families of the children who were present that day,’ she added.
‘Their pain is unimaginable, and I know nothing I say can measure against the loss and trauma they live with.
‘The truth is, we are all hurting, each in our own way. I offer my words only to show the impact on my life, not to take away from theirs.’
Flowers and tributes were left by well-wishers in Southport in 2024, after three children were fatally stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club
A court artist’s sketch of Axel Rudakubana appearing at Liverpool Crown Court
In June, the mother of the most critically injured girl to survive, told the inquiry that,
while she had no doubt that both teachers helped save lives, the ‘uncomfortable and painful truth’ was that children were left alone, without any adult help, to save themselves.
She insisted difficult questions must be asked at the hearings and ‘meaningful’ changes ‘promised’ to stop anything similar ever happening again.
‘I don’t for a moment doubt that the actions of the teachers there that day saved lives,’ the mother said.
‘They escaped to call the police and flag down help, they shielded other children. I am grateful for what they did for those girls.
‘But 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.’
Ms Lucas, who has qualified as a counsellor and started a campaign against knife crime in the aftermath, said she wanted the inquiry to understand that the harm ‘didn’t end when the attack ended.’
‘It is every day since,’ she said. ‘It has touched every part of my life – my work, my home, my health, my relationships, my peace of mind. My hope is that no one else will ever have to live with this kind of lasting impact.’
The hearings, chaired by retired judge Sir Adrian Fulford, will examine why several agencies, including the police, the courts, the NHS and social services, who all had contact with Rudukabana, failed to identify the risk he posed. They will also investigate whether the attack could or should have been prevented.
Sir Adrian said it was ‘truly critical’ that the inquiry secured answers for the families of Rudakubana’s victims and made recommendations to prevent anything similar happening in the future.
One consideration is whether courts should be allowed to impose restrictions on people suspected of planning serious violent offences, even if they have not committed any crime.
The inquiry will also look into whether measures, such as imposing curfews, electronic tags, internet bans or restrictions on social media use should be available in such circumstances.
The widespread rioting and civil unrest following the murders is not being examined by the hearings.
The inquiry, which is expected to hear from the parents of Alice, Bebe and Elsie on Monday, continues.
