{"id":46152,"date":"2025-04-24T08:40:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T08:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/46152\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T08:40:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T08:40:14","slug":"girls-watching-over-us-as-southport-attack-fathers-to-run-london-marathon-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/46152\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Girls watching over us\u2019 as Southport attack fathers to run London Marathon \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fathers of two of the girls murdered in the Southport attack last summer say their daughters will be with them in spirit as they run the London Marathon.<\/p>\n

David Stancombe and Sergio Aguiar will run the 26.2-mile route in the capital this weekend to raise money for projects in memory of the three girls killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the town.<\/p>\n

Alice da Silva Aguiar, aged nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged seven and Bebe King, aged six, were stabbed to death in the attack on July 29 last year.<\/p>\n

Mr Aguiar, speaking to BBC Breakfast, said: \u201cWhen I\u2019m training, I feel she is always with me.<\/p>\n

\"Amie<\/a>\"Former<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I talk to her, tell her, you know, keep going mate, we\u2019re going to do this together, you will be with me, always.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell her to keep going with me, that we\u2019re going to do this together, you\u2019re going to be with me \u2013 always.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing I have in my mind is her, from start to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ElsieElsie Dot Stancombe with mother Jenni, father David and younger sister Rosie (Merseyside Police\/PA) <\/p>\n

David Stancombe said: \u201cElsie would be so happy to see me cross the finishing line, especially for the London Marathon.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would just be so proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Stancombe said he and his daughter watched the London Marathon on TV last year and she suggested he run the race himself in honour of her grandmother.<\/p>\n

\u201cA little bit of me was like, \u2018oh yeah, alright Els,’\u201d Mr Stancombe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just never thought I would be running it for these reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the money raised will go towards a commemorative playground and other facilities at Churchtown Primary School, attended by Alice and Bebe.<\/p>\n

Running alongside Mr Aguiar will be Jinnie Payne, the headteacher of Churchtown Primary School.<\/p>\n

Mr Stancombe is also raising money for Elsie\u2019s Story, a charitable trust that makes grants to assist young people and support others in the Southport area.<\/p>\n

Bebe\u2019s parents, Lauren and Ben King, will both be at the marathon on Sunday to support the pair.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is just incredible what they are doing,\u201d Mrs King said, \u201cAnd we want to be a part of it every step of the way. They were such wonderful, caring little children.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I reckon they are just up there watching over us and looking out for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Axel Rudakubana was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January for the murders of the three girls and attempted murders of eight other children, class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.<\/p>\n

\u2013 To support the fundraiser, visit: www.gofundme.com\/f\/churchtown-primary-school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fathers of two of the girls murdered in the Southport attack last summer say their daughters will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[25383,25384,25385,748,12450,25386,25387,393,4884,257,17450,25382,25388,371,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-46152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-alice-da-silva-aguiar","9":"tag-axel-rudakubana","10":"tag-bebe-king","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-charity","13":"tag-david-stancombe","14":"tag-elsie-dot-stancombe","15":"tag-england","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-london","18":"tag-london-marathon","19":"tag-north-west","20":"tag-sergio-aguiar","21":"tag-southport","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114392047763939451","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}