'We feel very numb' Bewilderment, horror and one simple question: why?

How does a community come to terms with an attack that hits with such ferocity, such barbarity, such searing horror that it is beyond even the stuff of nightmares?

- Josh Halliday Hannah Al-Othman

What sort of society do we live in when a highlight of the summer holidays, in the middle of a sunny day at the seaside, turns into what witnesses likened to "a scene from a horror movie"? And perhaps the most pressing question being asked by families in Southport and beyond: why? "The whole community is feeling very numb," said one woman, whose seven-year-old daughter was friends with one of the three young girls killed at a Taylor Swiftthemed holiday club in Southport on Monday.

"Her friend and two others are no longer here," she added. "She's struggling to get her head round it but she has asked a lot of questions about why would someone do that, and who did it. I hope we get answers that we need so that we can move forward." Detectives were trying to answer that crucial question - why? - by combing the background of the 17-year-old suspect, who was born in Cardiff and whose family live five miles from the crime scene in the village of Banks.

Three girls, Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, have died and five other children remain in a critical condition after the knife rampage at the Hart Space, a community hub used for yoga classes and antenatal workshops.

"Why? Why? These parents need that answer. Why this has happened," said Kyon Tysoe, 50, holding back tears after leaving a teddy and flowers at the police cordon protecting the crime scene. "It's a seaside town. We're supposed to have fun here. We're not supposed to have roads closed off and multiple murders. The biggest question is why." Joanne Abbey, who is due to give birth to her first child next month, said she had taken part in yoga classes at the Hart Space during her pregnancy, describing it as a "gorgeous, lovely, calm space".