Southport parents tell of "burden" that attacker was known to authorities
The official inquiry into the attack is continuing in Liverpool
Last updated 9th Sep 2025
The official inquiry into the Southport attack has been told parents are carrying a "burden" knowing their children were targeted by someone already known to authorities.
In impact evidence heard at Liverpool Town Hall on Tuesday, the mother of a girl referred to as child L told the Southport Inquiry her daughter was not physically harmed by Axel Rudakubana in the attack, on July 29 last year, but the emotional damage caused "cannot be underestimated".
She said: "She - along with the others present that day - was targeted by someone who we now know was already known to multiple agencies.
"That knowledge alone is a burden we carry every day."
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were killed in the attack at the Taylor Swift-themed class when Rudakubana, 18, also attempted to murder eight other children and two adults.
The woman, who read her statement sitting alongside her partner, appeared to be holding back tears as she described how her daughter now positioned herself near the fire exit and watched the classroom door in school.
She said: "She is receiving specialist psychological support now but, still, we can't give her back what was taken: the sense that the world is safe, that adults can protect her, that harm is far away."
She told the inquiry her daughter felt guilty she was able to run when others were not and responsible that she could not stop the attacker.
She added: "We also feel enormous guilt that our daughter was the last child to be collected that day, having to spend time in two different strangers' houses, waiting for us to locate her amongst the horrifying chaos that was unfolding before us."
She said the family hoped the inquiry process would "shine a light into the darkest corners of the systems that failed".
"We are not here out of bitterness, but out of hope," she said.
"Hope that this process will expose the failures that led to this, acknowledge their consequences, and, most importantly, lead to change.
"What happened was not inevitable. It was preventable.
"We ask you to listen not just with legal minds, but with human hearts."
The first phase of the inquiry, expected to run until November, will examine Rudakubana's history and his dealings with relevant agencies, along with any missed opportunities to prevent what happened.