Families of children who survived the Southport atrocity fear they are being 'forgotten' due to a court order which gives them anonymity. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were killed when Axel Rudakubana launched his attack on the Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July 2024.
Twenty-three other girls escaped from the dance class, eight of whom Rudakubana was convicted of attempting to murder. Neither the surviving children nor their families can be named after legal orders were put in place to protect their identities. But now families of five of them have told the BBC they felt their daughters are not being given sufficient support as a result. They include a girl who was stabbed 33 times, and two sisters who were both injured as the elder tried to shield her younger sibling.
The mother of one of the children told the broadcaster: 'There are 23 girls moving around this town, and nobody has any idea who they are.' Another said they had experienced 'confusion' over which agencies are responsible for helping the girls rebuild their childhoods. Rudakubana was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum term of 52 years for the murders of Bebe King, six, Elsie Stancombe, seven, and Alice Aguiar, nine, who he stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance holiday club.
'I think we have fallen through the cracks,' she added. The court order banning the media from reporting the names of the physically injured girls was imposed after an application by the prosecution as soon as legal proceedings against Rudakubana began. The children's parents say they back the order as it protects their daughters' privacy as they grow up. But they also feel it has rendered them invisible and want them to have the right to opt to waive their anonymity and speak publicly when they become adults.
One of the fathers said: 'Anonymity is not invisibility. We hope people bear them in mind because it's the absolute least they deserve.' The families also said support for their children had been difficult to access, with officials telling them they don't know the identities of the surviving girls. Some feel their daughters' bravery - and the lasting impact of surviving the attack - have not been fully recognised as a result.
The sisters still have to be medicated to help them sleep due to enduring nightmares, their family said, while a survivor who had to have her spleen removed faces lifelong vulnerability to infection. The mother of a girl who escaped the building after being stabbed but was dragged back inside by her attacker told the BBC: 'The damage that was able to be done in such a short space of time is absolutely harrowing for a child to survive and have to live with. But the fact that no-one in the outside world knew their names had given the public permission to sort of forget about them a bit,' she added.
Last month, a public inquiry into the attack found it 'could and should have been prevented' and there was a failure of any organisation to take ownership of the risk presented by Rudakubana. However some families now believe history is repeating itself in the form of a lack of a 'joined up' response on how to support their traumatised daughters. Nicola Ryan-Donnelly, of Fletchers Solicitors, which represents 22 of the 23 surviving children, said: 'People are scared to talk about these girls in important rooms, where they need to be represented in order to access support. The order protects these girls and their families publicly, but it should not restrict the services they are entitled to access.'
The Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales, Claire Waxman, told the BBC the families' accounts raised 'serious questions' about whether the surviving girls were getting the support they needed. Sefton Council, which covers Southport, said it had set up a dedicated recovery team to co-ordinate its response towards everyone impacted by the attack with a range of agencies. Lancashire County Council said it had 'reached out to families through local schools and provided support'.
