A dance teacher who helped save the lives of children caught up in the Southport stabbings including locking one in a toilet has described the "terrifying" moment the attacker banged on the door in an attempted to get in.
A public inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall aims to examine the perpetrator’s dealings with relevant agencies before he carried out his violent attack.
Three girls – Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven – were murdered in the incident on 29 July 2024, with the attacker attempting to murder 10 others.
Heidi Liddle, who had been asked to be a guest dance teacher at the event, told the inquiry that she is still "haunted by screams" after a knifeman entered The Hart Centre while she was making bracelets with the children.
Leanne Lucas, who organised the event, was stabbed multiple times as the attacker entered the Hart Space towards the end of the class.
Tearfully reading her own impact statement to the public inquiry at the hearing in Liverpool, she described the scene as "bedlam" and "absolute chaos".
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