A teacher leading the Southport dance class where three young girls were killed in a knife attack has said the ordeal led her to “lose faith in the world”.
Leanne Lucas, 35, was teaching a Taylor Swift-themed dance class at a family centre in Southport, Merseyside, in July when the attack took place.
Bebe King, six, Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, all died in the stabbings.
Ms Lucas suffered serious stab wounds while trying to protect two girls.
She has now spoken publicly for the first time since the attack during a candlelit vigil to remember the women and girls who have lost their lives to male violence. This coincided with United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls.
She said the attack left her and her community feeling “very unsafe”, but she hopes the girls’ memories can prompt change so a similar incident cannot happen again.
Ms Lucas told LBC: “My purpose was creating wellbeing events for children and families, and for that to happen where I was, and for the words I spoke and the children spoke, for that to be trampled over has just really dampened all of our spirits, feeling unsafe, feeling like we just lost faith in the world really.
“I’m not too sure how we’ll ever move on, apart from using the girl’s memories as a driving force to change things for other people in the future, so this doesn’t have to happen to them again.”
More than £41,000 was raised for the dance teacher to support her recovery after the attack.
She added: “I try to resemble it as us being connected by an invisible piece of string. We’re all connected in the most horrible way.
“Sometimes that string will fray and tangle and knot, but at the best of times, it will wrap together and it’s brought a lot of us closer, creating kindness and warmth, and it’s created a strong force that almost we couldn’t have imagined would be possible out of something so horrific.
“There has been a lot of love come from Southport, a lot of love come from all over the world.
“To be honest, the impact has been tragic, but there has been some glimmers, at times.”
In the wake of the attack, riots broke out across the country over a 12-day period. So far 1,590 people have been arrested.
Axel Rudakubana, now aged 18, is charged with the murders of Alice, Bebe and Elsie and the attempted murders of eight other children, Ms Lucas and businessman John Hayes, and possession of a knife.
He was charged last month with the additional offences of production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.
He is next due to appear in court on December 12.
