A small change to have a very powerful future role

SOUTHPORT yoga teacher Leanne Lucas is asking people to make one big adjustment after the life-changing event she suffered last year.

- BY MEGAN BANNER

The 36-year-old was leading a Taylor Swift-themed workshop on July 29 last year when Axel Rudakubana began his attack on the class of 26 children, killing six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar.

Rudakubana, 18, is serving a life sentence for killing the three young girls. Leanne, who tried to protect children from the knifeman and was badly wounded herself, has now launched a new campaign after the horrific events of last year.

She has launched 'Let's Be Blunt', a new national campaign urging households, retailers, and policy-makers to switch from pointed to rounded-tip kitchen knives as a "practical step to reduce knife crime."

The campaign was unveiled at a Knife Crime Awareness Week parliamentary reception last night, where Leanne spoke alongside the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson. She is also attending Prime Minister's Questions this afternoon.

Leanne said: "The horrific events in Southport on the 29th of July 2024 changed my life forever. The pain and heartbreak that the families involved have had to endure is unimaginable.

"If I can help to ensure this doesn't happen to another family again, I will. When people ask if there is anything they can do to help me, my answer is clear and comes from the heart: swap your pointed kitchen knives for rounded ones.

"Pointed knives, readily available in most kitchens, pose a very real risk of being tragically used as weapons on our streets.