Leanne Lucas described how she thought, “How many can I save before I die?” after being stabbed to the head and chest
Primary school teacher and newly qualified counsellor Leanne Lucas pictured during a BBC Panorama documentary
A teacher severely injured during the Southport attack sobbed as she described how she tried to do her best “in an unthinkable situation”. Leanne Lucas, 36, was stabbed multiple times after confronting hooded teenage mass murderer Axel Rudakubana as he entered the Taylor Swift-themed dance party armed with a knife.
Ms Lucas told the Southport Inquiry: “My physical wounds have healed, but the psychological scars remain raw.” Clutching a tissue to her nose, the primary school teacher and child yoga instructor said she had received relentless online abuse since the attack.
She told the inquiry, which is being held at Liverpool Town Hall, how “to some I am called a hero, to others a villain”. She added: “The truth is, I am neither. I am just Leanne, the woman who did her best in an unthinkable situation.”
Three girls – Bebe King, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Elsie Dot Stancombe – were murdered by teenage killer Axel Rudakubana during the attack on July 29 last year. Ten other people suffered injuries, while another 16 also survived but continue to live with the emotional scars of the attack.
Before beginning her statement in full, Ms Lucas said: “Before I share my own experience, I want to say that not a day goes by when I don’t think about the families of the children who were present that day. Their pain is unimaginable, and I know nothing I say can measure against the loss and trauma they live with.
Leanne Lucas(Image: Facebook)
“I have gone back and forth on whether to write this statement at all, because I never want to suggest comparison or competition in suffering. The truth is, we are all hurting, each in our own way.”
Watched on by friend and dance teacher Heidi Liddle, who gave her own statement to the inquiry, Ms Lucas described how the “positive, beautiful, energy-filled room” descended into horror when the attacker entered the room. She said: “I shouted to him and to the girls for someone to indicate they knew him.
“That is when he came over to me. He began what I thought was punching me in the back. It was after the second blow when I knew, ‘He’s got me’. It wasn’t until I saw blood that I realised he was stabbing me.” Ms Lucas said she called 999 and fled the building with as many children as she could find.
“My thoughts were racing: ‘Nobody knows where we are,'” she said. “Nobody is coming. How much time do I have left? How many can I save before I die?” She said she stopped people and asked them for help before she fell unconscious due to the blood loss from injuries to her chest, back and head.
Members of the media gather as police and forensic officers attend the scene of the multiple stabbing attack on July 29, 2024 in Southport, England. The North West Ambulance Service says they were treating at least eight people for stab injuries after a reported attack near Hart Street. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
She told the inquiry: “It was days before I knew that children had died, months before I learned the extent of the surviving girls’ injuries – and half a year before I was told of the true horror.” Recalling the event, she added: “That day, faced with an impossible situation, survival instincts guided my split-second decisions. I acted in a way to find help as quickly as possible. Living with that knowledge is hard.”
She said since the attack her life has been divided into “before and after”. She has moved back to live with her parents and said they and those closest to her have to “live with the fear of my darkest moments”.
She said: “They lived through the fear of almost losing me, not once but twice. Those moments replay without warning. Many of them struggle to sleep, and some days it is hard to get out of bed and face the new reality. There is no ‘getting over it,’ only learning how to carry on.”
Ms Lucas continued: “What happened did not just wound me. It rippled out into the lives of those who love me. They have carried their own share of fear, grief, and helplessness. This is the wider cost of violence. It is not only the victims who live with its impact, but everyone who stands beside them.”
Ms Lucas said she does not celebrate her wins out loud since the attack but wanted to tell the inquiry she has qualified as a counsellor, recently finishing her three years of study. But she added: “I am still broken in places you cannot see.
Chair Sir Adrian Fulford sitting inside the hearing room at Liverpool Town Hall for the Southport Inquiry(Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
“I want the inquiry to understand that the harm didn’t end when the attack ended. It has been every day since. It has touched every part of my life: my work, my home, my health, my relationships, and my peace of mind. My hope is that no one else will ever have to live with this kind of lasting impact.”
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.
Opening the inquiry earlier this year, chair Sir Adrian Fulford called the attack “one of the most egregious crimes in our country’s history”. The chair said the inquiry was expected to act as a “real engine for change”, adding: “I am determined it will not turn into an exercise of papering over the cracks.”