The parents of two of the girls murdered in Southport have spoken of the moment they were told “something awful has happened” to their children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
The families of Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe also called for more protection for children from the internet and criticised the decision to televise the sentencing of Axel Rudakubana, who was jailed last month for a minimum term of 52 years.
Rudakubana pleaded guilty to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe, six, and Elsie, seven.
He also admitted trying to murder eight other children, as well as the instructor Leanne Lucas and the businessman John Hayes, on 29 July last year.
Jenni Stancombe, 35, told the Sunday Times she got a call from another mother just before midday, telling her: “‘Something awful has happened. Somebody’s stabbed the kids.’
“I said: ‘What do you mean?’
“She went: ‘It’s really bad. You need to get here.’
“I just ran. I left the whole house open and got in the car.”
Stancombe added: “It’s a five-minute drive from ours and we must have got there in a minute. We kept our hands on the horn, going faster and faster, jumping every red light on the road, we were on the other side of the road, people throwing their hands up to us.
“I just didn’t care, I just kept whacking the horn. We got there and just deserted the car in the middle of the road and just ran.
“And by that point police started trying to push people back.”
Bebe King’s parents – who cannot be named for legal reasons – had been preparing for a wedding the following day.
Her mother recalled being in Marks & Spencer when she received a phone call from her husband, who had arrived early to collect their daughter.
She said: “I was about to put my card in the machine, and he called. ‘I can’t believe I’m telling you this but somebody has gone into the dance class with a knife.’
She ran outside and jumped into a taxi. The driver dropped her off at the end of the street “and I just ran”.
It emerged last month that Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the Southport attack, was referred three times to the Prevent programme.
One of the referrals followed concerns about his potential interest in the killing of children in a school massacre, it is understood.
Elsie’s uncle, Chris, told the newspaper: “The bottom line is the perpetrator was a child.
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“It looks like the overall framework wasn’t fit for purpose. Notwithstanding some people are just born that way. But having access to such hateful information at their fingertips – from day one that’s what we said was a factor.”
During sentencing, the court heard a summary of the prosecution’s evidence along with the judge’s sentencing remarks and details of the victims’ injuries which were broadcast live.
Chris said: “The sentencing shouldn’t have been televised.”
Bebe’s father added: “We know it has to be heard in court but why did the whole nation need to see it on television?”
Bebe’s family did not attend court during the sentencing. “We didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing us,” her father added.
Both parents also paid tribute to their daughters.
Stancombe said it was an honour to be Elsie’s mother
“Everything she did was pure enthusiasm. It could be the most boring thing – even, like, David taking the bins out – and it was like: ‘I’ll come!’ She was grateful for life.”
The Stancombes have set up a charity, called Elsie’s Story, to help children in need.
King’s mother said of her daughter: “She would come out with the most random stuff. She would do it and look at you and laugh as if to say: ‘I’m dead funny, aren’t I?’ She would give you this hug and say: ‘I love you, momma.’
“She was the best.”
Article by:Source: Nadeem Badshah
