Royal message to Southport school

THE Prince of Wales told children and staff at a school attended by victims of the Southport murders to “be brave, be joyful and be kind”.

- PAT HURST & ELEANOR BARLOW Press Association

The Prince and Princess of Wales have visited a school where one of the children murdered in the Southport attack was a pupil.

William and Kate had a private meeting with the mother and father of Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, who was a pupil at Farnborough Road Infant and Junior School in the town.

Elsie died along with Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. Eight other children and two adults were also injured in the knife attack by Axel Rudakubana on July 29 last year.

The royal couple spent more than an hour at the school and around 30 minutes meeting Elsie's parents Jenni, 36, and David Stancombe, 37, during a private meeting at the school. Earlier they had been greeted by hundreds of excited children waving Union flags as they arrived.

Headteachers at the school thanked the royal couple following what they described as a “tremendously stressful” year, after the attack left the local community devastated. Jennie Sephton, head teacher of the infant school, said: “It's made such a big difference.

“It was something that Jenni and David wanted them to do right from the beginning. It was around the recognition of what staff have done, how they have supported the family, how they have supported the children going forward.

“And it’s just real recognition that they value Jenni and David but they have also listened. It’s just so special.”