The mother of one of the three girls killed in the Southport attack told a public inquiry she wanted the truth and “real change”, saying those who failed her daughter must be held to account.
Lauren King, whose six-year-old daughter Bebe was the youngest of the three children murdered at a Taylor Swift–themed dance class on 29 July 2024, spoke at Liverpool Town Hall as the inquiry into the attack continued. The panel is examining the history of the attacker and his contact with various agencies. Eight other children and two adults were seriously wounded at the Hart Street dance studio.
Mrs King, 42, described Bebe as “joyful”, “hilarious” and “magical”, and said their bond had been “spiritual”. Her statement to the inquiry said the attack was preventable and demanded accountability from those who had contact with the attacker. “This was preventable,” she told the hearing. “And no other child, no other family, no other community should ever endure what we now live with every single day.”
She recounted the desperate hours after being told a man had attacked the dance studio, saying she and her husband had spent “hours walking around in the intense heat” not knowing whether Bebe was alive. The couple said they were standing in the street, in public, when they were first told Bebe had been killed. “These are moments no form of therapy can ever resolve,” Mrs King said. She concluded by saying the family would carry Bebe “in our hearts for the rest of our lives” and urged those at the inquiry to ensure no other family suffers similarly.
Statements from the parents of the other two girls were also read to the inquiry. Alexandra and Sergio Aguiar described arriving to a scene of “panic and terror” when they went to collect their daughter Alice, nine. Mrs Aguiar said she found injured children in the car park and blood inside the building. She ran into the studio and found paramedics attending to Alice, who was later taken to Southport hospital and died after 13 hours. “My happy, loving, innocent little girl [was] hurt by a monster,” she said in the statement read by her lawyer.
Jenni and David Stancombe delivered a statement about their daughter Elsie, seven, saying she was “our joy, our pride, our everything”. Mrs Stancombe told the inquiry that the death could not be reduced to a single label of “knife crime”, arguing instead that the issue concerned “the root causes, the drive, the intent, and the series of failures that allowed it to happen.” She described the moment officers told them a child matching Elsie’s description had not survived and said the images of that day would remain with them.
The statements were delivered in a day earmarked for the families of the three murdered girls. The parents sat side-by-side in the witness box, many fighting through tears as lawyers read their accounts. Earlier sessions at the inquiry heard evidence from some of those who survived the attack.
The inquiry, established to investigate the attacker’s background and the handling of information by public agencies, is expected to examine whether opportunities to intervene were missed. It will hear further evidence in coming sessions as it seeks to identify lessons to prevent future attacks and to recommend changes to practice and policy. The public hearings are ongoing.