At 3pm on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, people across Southport paused for a three-minute silence to remember the three girls killed two years earlier in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop.
Crowds gathered in the Town Hall gardens outside The Atkinson, where the town stood united in quiet reflection. Families embraced one another, as many wiped away tears and others bowed their heads in remembrance.
The victims
Six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar were among 26 children who arrived at The Hart Space on the morning of July 29, 2024, for what should have been a fun-filled workshop. Instead, an unimaginable tragedy unfolded.
The attack
The actions of one individual, alongside a litany of failings in the years leading up to the attack, claimed the lives of Bebe, Elsie, and Alice, while eight other children and two adults suffered serious physical injuries. The devastating events left Southport in shock and three families facing an unimaginable loss.
Community remembrance
Two years on, the pain of that day remains deeply felt by a community that continues to carry its loss. ECHO photographer Andy Teebay was in Southport this afternoon to capture the emotional scenes.
