'His words will never leave me: The kids have been stabbed'

A MOTHER whose elder daughter was severely injured in the Southport attack has recalled the moment her husband phoned her and said: “The kids have been stabbed.”

- By Eleanor Barlow and Pat Hurst

The woman said her two girls, who cannot be named, were caught up in Axel Rudakubana’s murderous attack and one was seriously wounded by the 18-year-old.

A public inquiry, which resumed at Liverpool Town Hall yesterday, is examining Rudakubana’s dealings with relevant agencies before he killed Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe.

He tried to murder 10 others at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year and was jailed for at least 52 years.

In her impact evidence, the mother said her husband, who sat with his arm around her, went to collect their teenage daughter and her younger sister from the studio on Hart Street but “couldn’t make sense of what was happening”.

She said: “He called me, his voice urgent. The words he spoke will never leave me: ‘You need to get here now. The kids have been stabbed’.

“Shock took over instantly. I couldn’t make sense of the words. I went to my neighbour to drive me to the scene. It was the slowest journey to get there.

“My husband, meanwhile, had entered the building, witnessing true horror that will stay with him for ever, and been unable to locate our daughters.

“He recalls time standing still, hearing screams and he then received a call from our eldest and located the girls at the neighbour’s. He relives these moments daily.”