'I walk past Elsie's empty bed every night, praying this nightmare will end ...but it never does'

TEARFUL mothers of three girls murdered at a dance class in Southport have called for truth, accountability and change in emotional statements at a public inquiry into their deaths.

- By Pat Hurst

Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were killed by Axel Rudakubana who tried to murder eight other children and two adults at a Taylor Swift-themed class on July 29 last year.

Speaking at the Southport Inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall yesterday, Bebe's mother Lauren King, 42, said: "No statement, no report, no apology will ever bring Bebe back. But this inquiry cannot become another box-ticking exercise."

Speaking through tears for much of her statement, Mrs King raised her voice as she said: "The truth must be faced. Accountability must be taken. And real change must be made.

Suffered

"Because this was preventable. It should never have happened. And no other child, no other family, no other community should ever endure what we now live with every single day."