‘I’ll never forget the screaming’: How the people of Southport are trying to make sense of horror
The pink ribbons on the front gates and signposts of Hart Street in Southport are faded now.
Warning: This article contains content some readers might find distressing.
Placed there in that wave of grief and shock, they are now one of the last visual reminders of what happened on 29 July.
One of the others: many of the doorbell cameras are still missing from their backplates. Cameras that recorded the horror on their doorsteps were taken away to provide the evidence.
The attack that took the lives of Alice Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King and injured others, has left an indelible mark on an unremarkable street in a genteel seaside resort.
(L-R) Victims Elsie Dot Stancombe, Bebe King and Alice Dasilva Aguiar
Axel Rudakubana, 18, from Lancashire, was jailed for life with a minimum of 52 years on Thursday at Liverpool Crown Court for the three murders.
He also admitted 10 counts of attempted murder and possession of a kitchen knife on Monday, and further pleaded guilty to charges of producing ricin and possessing an al Qaeda training manual allegedly found in searches of his home in Banks.
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Mugshot of attacker Axel Rudakubana released
The vivid colours of the summer have given way to the harsh cold of winter on Hart Street. But if the physical reminders of that day are disappearing, the emotional scars are borne by everyone you talk to.
“I’m still in shock,” said Briony. “I don’t think I’ve completely processed it yet. I know a lot of people are definitely still in shock as well because it was in front of them that it happened.”
She was on the phone to her mum when she heard the first screams. Her front window, she said, felt like a giant TV screen, only the images playing out were of real-life horror.
Florist Briony said she ‘heard screams’ on the day of the attack
“I remember the parents turning up. They were abandoning the cars and running down the road screaming,” she said. “I’ll never forget that sound, just absolutely horrendous.”
Hart Street is one of many in Southport that features the idiosyncrasy of small industrial units tucked behind the rows of neat Edwardian houses and accessed by driveways between.
It was in one of the units that the attack took place, its victims spilling into the street as it unfolded.
Steve, who was rebuilding a wall in his front garden, ushered many of them, some badly injured, into his house and the care of his wife. He grabbed a hammer and went to confront the attacker as police arrived.
A survivor of the Hillsborough disaster, he plays down his role on 29 July. Desperate parents came to the house looking for their children, the horror for some was that their child wasn’t there.
“What is there to say? I just think of the families,” he said.
Hart Street in Southport, where the attack took place last July
The heroism of the people of Hart Street gave way to a community response that sustained each other through those first few days and in the months since.
Initially, inside the bubble of the police cordon, they were insulated from the global spotlight that turned on their street.
Today there are people who, politely, refuse to talk about what happened. They have relived it enough. You can read in their eyes the trauma they carry.
But there are others who, if they would rather not talk publicly, do want to talk about it. Maybe it is easier to a stranger. Perhaps it is some catharsis for an experience, they all agree, that has changed everyone.
The pain on Hart Street is palpable.
People recall explaining to their own children why the faces of girls they knew were suddenly on the television, how seeing a certain shade of green brings back memories of the attacker’s distinctive hoodie, how anxiety now accompanies even the most routine of daily chores.
Some wonder whether they could have done something to stop the attack.
Thousands of flowers were left on Hart Street in the aftermath of the attack
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When you walk up garden paths that police swept for DNA evidence, when you use pavements and alleyways that were the scene of the most unimaginable horror – when does anything ever return to normal?
One house became an impromptu post office for the cards of condolence that arrived from around the world. Many were simply addressed “Alice, Bebe and Elsie, c/o Hart Street”.
Briony, who trained as a florist, was one of the residents who took it upon themselves to look after the mountain of flowers that also arrived at Hart Street, to keep them as fresh for as long as possible in the summer heatwave.
“I went out there with my headphones on so I could concentrate on it. It felt like it was important to show everybody how loved those three girls were and how the community cares so much about what’s happened.”
Some of the tributes live on, replanted in flower beds on Hart Street, Briony is drying some to turn into a work of art.
Briony is drying flowers left on Hart Street to turn into a work of art
The pain of the memories of the events of 29 July is matched only by the anger many feel at the scenes of unrest that followed.
“Disgusting. I thought it was disgusting,” said Briony. “It was just a sign of pure hatred and nothing else.”
Shifting the focus away from the families of the victims, for many, is unforgivable. Even in recent weeks, friends and relatives of the children caught up in the attack have continued to return to Hart Street.
They come to thank those who helped save lives that day. They talk. Sometimes they just hug.
“I can’t imagine what they’re going through. I just hope they can find some sort of peace at some point,” said Briony.
For the parents of Alice, the grieving process includes a monthly mass for her at their local Catholic church.
Father John Henegan gave victim Alice her first Holy communion and also held her funeral
Father John Henegan gave Alice her first Holy Communion last summer.
“She was just radiant, just this constant beaming smile, it was absolutely natural,” he said.
Weeks later, Father John was holding Alice’s funeral. How does he believe any family can reckon with the violence that took her life?
“Our response is goodness. Our response is hope,” he said, adding: “Love instead of hate. Hatred creates chaos and distress. Love is the way. Hope is the opposite to despair. We can change things. We can help to build a better world.”
On Hart Street, those pink ribbons continue to fade, but the memories of Alice, Bebe and Elsie never will.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
The dashcam footage from Paul Doyle’s Ford Galaxy, as he ploughs his way through the crowd at the Liverpool parade, is chilling.
Bodies are thrown left and right, people disappear under the front of the car, for a few seconds some appear to be clinging to the bonnet, terror on their faces.
The sound is equally graphic. The screaming and the shouting from outside of the car. And the thumps: as people bang on the car to get Doyle to stop, and as people are hit by it.
Men, women and children hit. A bike, a baby’s pram.
Paul Doyle was seen on CCTV driving into the crowd. Pic: Merseyside Police
Throughout those couple of minutes, Doyle lays on the car’s horn, the parking sensors beep constantly, and he shouts.
“F***ing hell, move,” he repeats. “Get out the f***ing way”, “f***ing move”, “get off the f***ing road, you f***ing p***k”.
Those words, prosecutors say, reveal the truth – that Doyle knew he was driving at people.
He was jailed for 21 years and six months – with Judge Andrew Menary KC telling Doyle he acted in an “inexplicable and undiluted fury” when he drove into the crowds.
The judge told him his “disregard for human life defies ordinary understanding”.
“Your actions caused horror and devastation on a scale not previously encountered by this court,” he said.
“The footage is truly shocking… it shows you, quite deliberately, accelerating into groups of fans time and time again.
“You struck people head-on, knocked others onto the bonnet, drove over limbs, crushed prams and forced those nearby to scatter in terror.”
Follow latest as Paul Doyle is sentenced
“In my 20 years of policing, this is the most graphic and distressing footage I have ever encountered,” said Detective Chief Inspector John Fitzgerald, the senior investigating officer for Merseyside Police.
“Doyle’s total disregard for the safety of others – particularly the many young children present on Dale Street and Water Street that day – is beyond comprehension. It is sheer luck that no lives were lost.”
In the end, that dashcam footage was never shown to a jury as Doyle pleaded guilty on the day his trial was due to begin. The footage will not be released to the public due to its graphic nature.
Paul Doyle after his arrest. Pic: Merseyside Police
What motivated his rampage?
“I think Doyle was just determined to get to where he wanted to get to, and there was no stopping him no matter who was in his way,” said DCI Fitzgerald.
“He clearly got angrier and angrier as the dashcam footage rolls on. He was yelling profanities at the people in his way.
“He just clearly got red mist.
“I do not believe that Doyle deliberately set out his journey to injure people on that day, but his actions were deliberate.”
Ex-soldier helped stop attack
Doyle was only stopped by the bravery of former soldier Dan Barr. He managed to climb into the back seat of the car when Doyle briefly paused.
Dan Barr helped stop Doyle
“It was desperation to get him stopped, determination to stop him by whatever means, I think that’s what was going through my head,” Mr Barr said.
“He accelerated off, the door slammed shut and I’d gone from the total chaos of panic and screaming to the relative silence as he’s accelerated off and you can just hear the people being hit and run over.
“It was horrendous, and I could see people’s faces. I could see the looks of them trying to plead but wasting their time, that’s all they could do because there was nowhere to go to get out of the way.
“I do remember seeing he had an automatic and therefore P for park was right at the end so I thought I’ll just jam that forward as far as I could that should stop him, and it did.”
Without Mr Barr’s actions, police say, Doyle would have carried on. They have described him as a hero.
Dan Barr says he hasn’t been the same since the incident
“I don’t think I am,” Mr Barr said. “I think it is standard.
“Who wouldn’t, if they could have, done what I did? I can’t think of anyone, especially on that street.”
It has come at a cost.
“I don’t think I have processed it, to be honest with you,” Mr Barr said.
“I’m not the same since that day. I’m not doing great but I’m getting there.”
By the time it was all over, 134 people had been injured, including two babies and six other children.
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Liverpool parade victim tells of ‘carnage’
Tens of thousands of Liverpool fans had been on the streets of the city on that spring bank holiday Monday to celebrate the club’s Premier League triumph.
Doyle had driven to the parade to collect a friend he had earlier dropped off there. On his way into the city, his dashcam had recorded him driving erratically, undertaking other cars and running a red light.
But police say there had been no sign earlier that day of what could have triggered his rage.
Doyle’s violent past
It can now be revealed that Doyle has previous convictions for assault.
In the early 1990s, while serving in the Royal Marines, he was convicted of biting off part of someone’s ear during a fight in a pub. He was discharged from the military at that time.
Police say they believe Doyle is a fan of Liverpool’s city rivals Everton, but that this was not a factor in what happened on 26 May.
Paul Doyle has previous convictions for assault
In police interviews, Doyle claimed he acted in fear and panic because someone in the crowd with a knife had opened his car door. Investigators say they spoke to 1,500 witnesses and no one else mentioned seeing a knife.
He also claimed he stopped when he hit the first person. In fact, he had hit more than 100 before stopping. His claims, prosecutors say, were lies.
As the incident unfolded, many of those who were there shared their first thoughts.
Debbie Blair said: “People were just screaming, ‘It’s a terrorist, it’s a terrorist, he might have a gun, he might have a knife’.”
“Next minute people were all screaming, ‘kill him, kill him’,” she said.
Debbie Blair and her son Mike, who was injured
Her son Mike was with her. Images of car attacks on Christmas markets in Europe, he said, flashed through his mind. His greatest concern was the number of children there.
“It was carnage, total carnage,” he said.
He was treated in hospital for injuries that still affect him.
“It shouldn’t have happened. But for someone to intentionally do that, it’s quite sick really.”
Mike was treated in hospital after the Liverpool parade incident
Police say Doyle has never shown any remorse for his actions. He told officers: “I’ve ruined my family’s lives.”
What he did on 26 May, prosecutors say, devastated lots of people’s lives.
UK
Russia trying to ‘bully’ UK and allies with attacks under threshold of all-out war, MI6 chief says
Russia is trying to “bully, fearmonger and manipulate” the UK and its allies with attacks under the threshold of all-out war, the new head of MI6 has said.
Blaise Metreweli, the first female chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), said Britain was “operating in a space between peace and war” and that everyone has a responsibility to understand the dangers because “the frontline is everywhere”.
In her first big speech on Monday, she also focused on Vladimir Putin’s devastating war in Ukraine, accusing him of “dragging out negotiations” on a peace deal and warning that Kyiv’s fate is “fundamental not just to European sovereignty and security but to global security”.
Offering her view on the evolution of global security threats, Ms Metreweli underlined the transformative role of technology, from artificial intelligence to quantum computing.
She said control over such advanced technologies is shifting from states to corporations and even individuals, making the balance of global power more “diffuse, more unpredictable”.
The spymaster did not name anyone.
Blaise Metreweli. Pic: PA
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However, innovators such as Elon Musk are becoming increasingly influential, with their technologies such as his Starlink satellites and his social media site X.
The boss of MI6 was speaking at her agency’s headquarters in London, though she said that the main work of her spies was carried “many miles away from this place – out of sight, hidden from the world, undercover, recruiting and running agents who choose to place their trust in us, sharing secrets to make the UK and the world safer”.
She warned the world was “more dangerous and contested now than it has been for decades”.
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The spy chief said: “Conflict is evolving and trust eroding, just as new technologies spur both competition and dependence.
“We are being contested from sea to space – from the battlefield to the boardroom. And even our brains as disinformation manipulates our understanding of each other and ourselves… We are now operating in a space between peace and war.
“This is not a temporary state or a gradual evolution. Our world is being actively remade with profound implications for national and international security.”
Breaking with a tradition by previous chiefs of offering a view on a range of threats when speaking publicly, Ms Metreweli said she was choosing to focus on Russia.
“We all continue to face the menace of an aggressive, expansionist and revisionist Russia, seeking to subjugate Ukraine and harass NATO,” she said.
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Ukrainian MP: Who will stop Putin?
On the conflict, she said Putin was “dragging out negotiations and shifting the cost of war on to his own population”.
Her comments come as Donald Trump is attempting to broker a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, told Sky News in an interview earlier this month that he believed Putin was using the US push for negotiations as “cover” while Russian troops attempted to seize more land by force.
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The Wargame returns with new episodes
The MI6 boss said the UK’s support for Ukraine would endure regardless of Moscow’s stalling actions.
She also flagged a growing wave of “grey zone” hostilities – deliberately carried out under the threshold of conventional armed conflict – that she attributed to Moscow.
“It’s important to understand their [Russia’s] attempts to bully, fearmonger and manipulate because it affects us all,” she said.
“I am talking about cyber attacks on critical infrastructure. Drones buzzing airports and bases. Aggressive activity in our seas, above and below the waves. State-sponsored arson and sabotage. Propaganda and influence operations that crack open and exploit fractures within societies.”
Germany’s President Steinmeier with President Zelenskyy in Berlin on Monday. Pic: Reuters
While she did not specify any particular incidents, there have been a spate of mysterious drone sightings in Denmark, Germany and Sweden; while a Russian spy ship was spotted off the coast of Scotland and acts of arson and sabotage have been carried out in the UK, such as a blaze at a warehouse in east London that was providing aid to Ukraine.
Drawing attention to another method to attack a country and its people, Ms Metreweli underlined how information is being weaponised, with falsehoods spread online that are designed to erode trust in a society and amplify divisions.
“The export of chaos is a feature not a bug in this Russian approach to international engagement and we should be ready for this to continue until Putin is forced to change his calculus,” she said.
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MI6, she said, is adapting to respond to the evolving threats.
But unusually Ms Metroweli also said the wider British public had a role to play, such as with schools helping to educate children to spot disinformation on social media and to check sources of news “and be alive to those algorithms that trigger intense reactions like fear”.
She added: “It also means everyone in society really understanding the world we are in – a world where… the frontline is everywhere. Online, on our streets, in our supply chains, in the minds and on the screens of our citizens.”
Building on the success of the highly acclaimed podcast The Wargame, Sky News presents The Wargame: Decoded – a one-off live event that takes you deep inside the minds of the wargame’s participants. Discover how they tackled the toughest challenges, the decisions they made under intense pressure, and even experience key moments of the game for yourself.
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Sky News’ Deborah Haynes will guide the conversation with Sir Ben Wallace, Robert Johnson, Jack Straw, Amber Rudd, Keir Giles and General Sir Richard Barrons – real-life military chiefs, former government officials and leading experts. Together, they will unpack their experiences inside The Wargame, revealing the uncertainty, moral dilemmas and real-world pressures faced by those who must make decisions when the nation is under threat.
Join us for this unique event exploring how the UK might respond in a moment of national crisis and get a rare, unfiltered glimpse into how prepared the country truly is for war.
A “hero” pedestrian climbed into the car of Liverpool parade attacker Paul Doyle and stopped him, a court has heard.
Doyle, who used a car as a “weapon” to plough through more than 100 people celebrating Liverpool’s Premier League title win, told officers “I’ve just ruined my family’s life”, the court heard.
The sentencing hearing was told the 54-year-old was “in a rage” and his “anger had completely taken hold of him”.
Doyle is due to be sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty to 31 offences relating to seriously injuring people during the victory parade on 26 May.
Doyle, described as a “family man” by prosecutors, wept as footage of the horrific rampage was shown to the city’s crown court several times on Monday.
Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, described the actions of Daniel Barr, who he called the “hero” of the day.
Emergency services at the scene. Pic: AP
Mr Barr, an ex-soldier, had “bravely” jumped into the back of Doyle’s Ford Galaxy and placed the vehicle into park.
He was walking up Water Street when he noted the defendant’s Ford Galaxy in the distance, said Mr Greaney, noting the crowd’s attitude changed from “joyous to desperate”.
Doyle’s vehicle then stopped next to Mr Barr “all of a sudden”.
“Daniel Barr instinctively pulled open the rear passenger-side door and climbed in. He did so with the intention of stopping the driver,” the prosecutor said.
Mr Barr leaned forward and moved the gear into “park” and “held it as hard as he could”.
Mr Greaney added: “The Galaxy did not stop immediately, but in the end it did.”
The prosecutor said police officers forced Doyle into a police van after the attack.
This, he said, was done “in the midst of a hostile crowd”, adding that officers’ behaviour was both “brave and effective”.
When Doyle was securely in the van, Mr Greaney said police body-worn camera footage picked up him saying: “I’ve just ruined my family’s life.”
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Doyle admitted dangerous driving, affray, 17 charges of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, nine counts of causing GBH with intent, and three counts of wounding with intent last month.
He had previously denied the offences, which relate to 29 victims aged between six months old and 77 years old.
Forensic officers at the scene in Water Street.
Pic: PA
The court was shown dashcam footage taken from the defendant’s car showing the attack.
Mr Greaney warned the court: “What we are about to display on the screens is truly shocking.”
There were audible gasps in the courtroom as the footage played.
Doyle could be heard repeatedly shouting at pedestrians to “move out the f****** way” as he drove through crowds.
Consistently using his vehicle’s horn, people could be seen trying to jump out of the way, with some forced on to the bonnet of the car.
“F****** pr****,” Doyle shouts as the footage continues.
By the end of the footage, people begin to attempt to run up to the vehicle.
When the car stops, one man shouts, “get the f*** out of the car”.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Greaney also detailed some of the injuries sustained by victims on the day of the attack.
One woman, aged 66, spent four nights in hospital after breaking six ribs and suffering fractures to her fingers on her left hand and her left wrist.
Another woman, aged 77 at the time, spent 27 days in hospital.
The prosecutor said she suffered a fractured left forearm, fractured left collar bone, three fractured ribs, a fractured pelvis, a broken nose, as well as multiple abrasions and bruising to her head, knees and back.
Another victim, who was 17, suffered bruising to their legs, shoulder and had a small fracture to their tibia.
After suffering wound infections, it took two months before the victim regained mobility, the prosecutor added.
Mr Greaney said some people at the scene on 26 May “thought that what was taking place was a terrorist attack”.
However, the prosecution ruled out that the defendant’s actions were “driven by ideology”.
Police investigations showed there was no problem with the vehicle, and Doyle was completely sober and “free of all drugs”, Mr Greaney said.
“The truth is a simple one – Paul Doyle just lost his temper in his desire to get to where he wanted to get to.
“In a rage, he drove into the crowd,” he added.
Doyle was arrested at the scene in Water Street just after 6pm and charged later that week.
The youngest victim was six-month-old Teddy Eveson, whose parents later told media he was thrown about 15ft down the road in his pram when the crash happened.
Doyle, of Croxteth, Liverpool, admitted attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to the baby.
Five other children, whom Doyle either injured or attempted to injure, cannot be named for legal reasons.
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