Leanne Lucas, a yoga teacher who was repeatedly stabbed during the Southport attack, spoke to BBC about how she managed to save several children despite her injuries.
The attack, which took place during a Taylor Swift-themed class, left three young girls dead and several others injured. The attacker, Axel Rudakubana, was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in prison.
Lucas recalled the moment the attacker entered. “He opened the door and grabbed a child. I didn’t understand what was happening at first,” she said. “Then he grabbed another, and another. That’s when I shouted, ‘Who is that?’” She said she struggled to remember the next moments clearly because the attacker then came towards her. “I felt something in my back, and my brain just said: He’s got me. Then he stabbed me again.”
Despite being seriously injured, Lucas and her friend, dance teacher Heidi Liddle, managed to help some children escape. Lucas suffered multiple stab wounds to her spine, head, ribs, lung, and shoulder blade. “He was bigger than me, and I knew I needed help. We started shouting, ‘Run!’ and I called 999 from the landing,” she said. “All I could think about was getting the children out.”
Even while bleeding and in pain, Lucas kept trying to get help. “I just kept repeating, ‘There are children inside. There are children inside,’” she said. “My mind was racing, but my body wasn’t keeping up. People were asking me questions, but I just kept saying, ‘Go and get the children.’” She added, “The police later told us that if Heidi and I hadn’t acted, we would all be dead.”
Lucas spoke about how difficult life has been since the attack. “I found out he pleaded guilty from the news. It made me angry. We all knew he did it, and he waited until the trial to say ‘guilty’.”
Despite everything, Lucas said she is determined to keep going. “The only reason to survive is because I got out. I’m alive. The girls aren’t, so I have to stay alive for them. Otherwise, what’s the point?” She described the young victims as full of life and happiness. “These children represented goodness. Pure goodness. Their love of life, their energy—that’s how I remember them.”