A dance teacher who led a Taylor Swift-themed children's workshop in Southport has told an inquiry she feels 'tortured' by guilt over the attack that left three girls dead. Heidi Liddle, who shielded a child in a toilet during the stabbing spree, said the trauma had 'fractured every part of my brain and my life'.
In emotional testimony at Liverpool town hall, Liddle described the 'crushing' guilt she bears despite being told the incident was not her fault. 'I constantly replay what happened over and over in my mind, what I was able to do, what else could I have done, the what ifs,' she said.
Her colleague Leanne Lucas, who was stabbed five times by Axel Rudakubana, said she felt 'ostracised' from her community since the attack. Lucas, 35, phoned 999 in the chaos of trying to escape and later fell unconscious from her injuries.
'To some I am called a hero, to others a villain. The truth is, I am neither. I am just Leanne, the woman who did her best in an unthinkable situation,' Lucas told the inquiry, breaking down in tears.
Liddle described how she locked herself and a girl in a toilet as Rudakubana banged on the door, only stopping when police arrived. 'The girls' screaming and fearing for our lives haunts me to this day,' she said.
The inquiry, led by Sir Adrian Fulford, is examining failures to prevent the killing of Bebe King, six; Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine; and the attempted murder of eight other girls and two adults on 29 July last year.
