Parents of two Southport stabbing victims speak publicly for the first time
Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King's parents have given an interview to The Sunday Times
The parents of two of the Southport stabbing victims have described their children as "caring, beautiful and happy".
Speaking publically for the first time since last July's attacks, they said they wanted the world to know what Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King were like.
They also told the Sunday Times the sentencing of the girls' killer, Axel Rudakabana, should not have been televised.
Jenni Stancombe said she watched her daughter run inside the dance class, excited to show her friend her newly pierced ears
Just before midday, Jenni got a call from another mother, telling her: "Something awful has happened. Somebody's stabbed the kids."
Jenni said: "I just ran. I left the whole house open and got in the car."
Ms 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."
Bebe King's parents - who we can't name for legal reasons - have also spoken about what happened. Her mother remembers being in a shop when her husband phone her after arriving early to collect Bebe.
Bebe's mother told The Sunday Times she ran outside the shop she'd been in when her husband called - and jumped into a taxi.
Bebe 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. She was just … Me and her had our own little language. Sometimes we would just look at each other and know what each other was thinking."
18-year-old Axel Rudakubana was jailed for at least 52 years for the murder of Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice Da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King, the attempted murder of ten other people, production of ricin, possession of an al-Qaeda training manual and possession of a knife.
The judge who sentenced him at Liverpool Crown Court said it's likely he'll never be released from prison.