The last time these girls shared a room was on 29 July 2024. That day, they fled in fear as a hooded teenager turned a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport into one of the most horrific attacks on children in modern British history. Three girls Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine were murdered and eight other children and two adults were stabbed repeatedly, some critically injured.
Axel Rudakubana, wearing a green hoodie and armed with a kitchen knife, ambushed a class of girls aged between six and 11 during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, resulting in three fatalities and multiple injuries.
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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
A lawyer said it was sobering and concerning that the Southport attacker probably viewed footage on social media of a stabbing in Australia by a teenage boy just 40 minutes before carrying out his own crimes. An inquiry is being held into the circumstances and events leading up to the attack by Axel Rudakubana, then 17, on 29 July 2024 in which he murdered three young girls and attempted to murder eight children and two adults.