A yoga teacher who nearly died in the Southport attack has told for the first time how she helped children escape despite being stabbed.
Leanne Lucas desperately tried to save youngsters from crazed killer Axel Rudakubana as he rampaged through a dance class in Southport on July 29, 2024.
Ms Lucas told the BBC she called 999 as Rudakubana chased after them, adding: “I just knew that if I didn’t get out, everyone was going to die.”
A girl, 13, who was helping Ms Lucas run the class, told the broadcaster Rudakubana looked “possessed” as he stabbed her.
Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, were murdered by Rudakubana, 18, at the dance and yoga workshop.
He was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January for the murders of the three girls and the attempted murder of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Ms Lucas and the 13 year old girl, named Sarah by the BBC but not her real name, are the first survivors that managed to get out of the venue to speak in public.
Sarah described how another girl tried to keep children calm by telling them not to worry, that their parents would arrive and everything would be OK.
Ms Lucas described how she got a glimpse of the attacker through a window and had no idea who he was or that he posed a threat.
She said Rudakubana opened a door and grabbed hold of a child, then another and another.
Sarah said she saw him stab a child in front of her before seeing the knifeman coming towards her and it going into her arm.
The attacker rampaged through the room and reached Ms Lucas, who he stabbed, wounding her spine, head, ribs, a lung and a shoulder blade.
Despite her horrific injuries, Ms Lucas rushed towards the door, urging everyone to “run” then calling the police.
She said panic mode set in when she saw a flash of the green hoodie Rudakubana was wearing, leaving her thinking he was chasing them.
Ms Lucas was praised by the judge at Rudakubana’s sentencing, who said she had done everything she could before escaping. But Ms Lucas torments herself over what happened.
Sarah told the BBC how she urged a group of girls huddling together around a set of stairs to get out and pushing them downstairs to escape Rudakubana.
She said: “I thought that he wasn’t going to stop until he killed everyone. I thought that he wanted to kill us all.”
The brave youngster managed to lead a number of children away from Hart Space towards a man, Steve, who led them into his house where he and his wife took care of them.
James Dixon was working at a garage next door to Hart Space. He described running up to a collapsed child who asked him if she was going to die.
Mr Dixon said it was heartbreaking to hear but he told her she wouldn’t, though he feared his reassurances might not prove true.
Steve armed himself with hammers and ran to the venue where he met window cleaner Joel Verite who had spotted Ms Lucas as he was driving past on his round.
The police arrived just as Steve and Mr Verite decided they would tackle Rudakubana head on. Officers entered the studio, subdued Rudakubana and arrested him.
Ms Lucas said she was targeted on social media in the aftermath of the attack by people who blamed her for what happened. As she was recovering from life-saving surgery, riots erupted in Southport and spread across the UK amid false rumours the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker.
She told the broadcaster part of the reason she wanted to share her story was to get the truth out and help people understand the trauma of that day.
