Parents of Southport stabbings victims pay tribute to daughters – and describe moment they were told ‘something awful has happened’
The parents of two of the girls murdered at a dance class in Southport have spoken of the moment they were told “something awful has happened” to their children.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, the parents of Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe paid tribute to their daughters, while recalling what happened on 29 July 2024.
Warning: Some readers may find this article distressing
Describing the moment she dropped her daughter off at the two-hour workshop at Hart Space studio, Jenni Stancombe said she watched Elsie run inside, excited to show her friend her newly pierced ears.
“I watched her sit down and waved her off and I left her,” she said.
Just before midday, Ms Stancombe got a call from another mother, telling her: “Something awful has happened. Somebody’s stabbed the kids.
“I said, ‘What do you mean?'” Ms Stancombe said. “She went, ‘It’s really bad. You need to get here’.
“I just ran. I left the whole house open and got in the car.”
Bebe King’s parents – who cannot be named for legal reasons – had been busily preparing for a wedding the following day.
Her mother remembers being in Marks & Spencer when she received a phone call from her husband, who had arrived early to collect Bebe.
“I was about to put my card in the machine, and he called. ‘I can’t believe I’m telling you this but somebody has gone into the dance class with a knife’,” she said.
She ran outside and jumped into a taxi. The driver dropped her off at the end of the street – “and I just ran”.
Parents’ tributes to children
Bebe’s parents came up with her name after a trip to Hollywood, where they saw the blues guitarist BB King’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Bebe King’s mother said of her daughter: “She would come out with the most random stuff. She would do it and look at you and laugh as if to say, ‘I’m dead funny, aren’t I?’ She would give you this hug and say, ‘I love you, momma’.
“She was the best. She was just … Me and her had our own little language. Sometimes we would just look at each other and know what each other was thinking.”
She said Bebe “had this innate kindness. She had a spark”.
Alice Da Silva Aguiar also died at the dance class
The last photo of Alice taken the day of the Taylor Swift dance class
Ms Stancombe said it was an honour to be Elsie’s mother. “Everything she did was pure enthusiasm. It could be the most boring thing – even, like, David taking the bins out – and it was like, ‘I’ll come!’ She was grateful for life.”
She described her daughter as “highly intelligent” but said she struggled with reading and writing. Leanne Lucas, who ran the dance workshop, had been Elsie’s private tutor for 18 months.
She had originally missed out on a spot at the dance workshop, which had quickly sold out. One of her school friends was going to the class and her mother messaged Ms Stancombe saying, “Have you got her a space?”
“And I was like, “Oh no’. I knew it had sold out, so I messaged Leanne saying, ‘Aw, I totally forgot to pay for Elsie’. And she messaged saying: ‘No problem. I’ll always have a place for Elsie.’ And she kept one. I just always think if she’d given it away…”
The horse-drawn carriage that carried the coffin of Elsie Dot Stancombe waits outside St John’s Church in Birkdale.
Pic: PA
Rioting in Southport
The families were told to come off their social media accounts after riots broke out in Southport, and Elsie’s father and uncle Chris visited the wreckage of the riots the following day.
Neither wanted to comment on the rioting that followed their children’s deaths. Instead, both families paid tribute to the community that rallied around them in the wake of the tragedy.
“It’s about this community. It has brought light in the darkness, these little moments. And that’s what we’re constantly looking for right now.”
Elsie’s funeral. Pic: PA
Bebe’s family spent the following week with her in a bereavement suite at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool. On the last day, her mother and father did a final bedtime routine, reading her Jack and the Beanstalk before they left.
No funeral director would accept money, while donations and support flooded in for the families.
Bebe had a white horse and carriage. “It’s not very us,” her parents told the Sunday Times while laughing, “but it was for her and we knew she would want that.”
Royal Family brought ‘genuine comfort’
The efforts of the Royal Family brought “genuine comfort” to both families, they told the Sunday Times.
Mr Stancombe said the visit by the Princess of Wales – her first public engagement since finishing chemotherapy – “meant a great deal to Jenni”.
The Prince and Princess of Wales visited Southport. Pic: PA
“I won’t say what they said to us, but what they shared with us was really, really powerful, and it was a powerful message and heartfelt, and it meant a lot,” he said.
The families also met the King at Clarence House in August.
“We could see how much he cared,” Mr Stancombe said, laughing about the moment Elsie’s sister offered the King a biscuit.
The King visited Southport. Pic: PA
‘Highly likely’ killer will never be released
Axel Rudakubana was jailed in January for a minimum term of 52 years after he pleaded guilty to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe, six, and Elsie, seven, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Rudakubana also admitted trying to murder eight other children, as well as instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes, on 29 July last year.
He was 17 years old when he walked into the dance studio, indiscriminately stabbing his victims with a 20cm blade he had bought on Amazon.
He was given 13 life sentences, with Mr Justice Goose saying the killings had caused “shock and revulsion” around the nation and said it was “highly likely” he would never be released.
Axel Rudakubana. Pic: Merseyside police
Read more:
The 14 minutes of terror that left three children dead
Family of Rudakubana ‘moved to secret location’
During sentencing he was twice ordered out of the dock after trying to disrupt proceedings, by shouting that he “felt ill”.
The court heard emotional statements from victims and families, with Ms Lucas who was stabbed in the back, saying she couldn’t give herself “compassion or accept praise, as how can I live knowing I survived when children died?”.
The incident was not labelled a terror attack, although officers later found a plastic box containing the toxin ricin under his bed in the village of Banks, Lancashire, along with other weapons including a machete and arrows.
His devices revealed an obsession with violence, war and genocide, and he was found to be in possession of an al Qaeda training manual. It fell outside the definition of terrorism because police couldn’t identify the killer’s motive.
Families did not want sentencing televised
Neither family was in court when Rudakubana suddenly changed his plea to guilty.
Both families did not want the sentencing televised, while Bebe’s family believe details about her injuries went beyond what was necessary.
“The sentencing shouldn’t have been televised,” Elsie’s uncle Chris says. Bebe’s father agreed: “We know it has to be heard in court but why did the whole nation need to see it on television?”
Post Office vans following the hearse carrying Elsie’s coffin. Pic: PA
Both talked about their struggle to adapt to a new life without their daughters. Mr Stancombe worked as a postman – he described how he would drop the post off at Elsie’s school and she would run over at lunchtime with her friends to say hello.
None of the parents have gone back to work yet, but Mr and Ms Stancombe have set up a charity – Elsie’s Story, to help other children in need.
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The Russian ambassador to the UK has been summoned by the Foreign Office following attacks on Kyiv overnight.
It comes after the British Council building in the Ukrainian capital suffered major damage in Russian strikes.
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Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed the government had summoned Andrey Kelin in response.
Mr Kelin was seen arriving at the Foreign Office building in Whitehall today.
Russian ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin arrives at the Foreign Office building in Whitehall
Mr Lammy posted on X: “Putin’s strikes last night killed civilians, destroyed homes and damaged buildings, including the British Council and EU Delegation in Kyiv.
“We have summoned the Russian Ambassador. The killing and destruction must stop.”
The British Council’s chief executive, Scott McDonald, said their guard for the building was injured but “stable”.
“At the insistence of my amazing colleagues, we will continue operations in Ukraine today wherever possible,” he said.
“Their resilience is awe-inspiring, and I am deeply thankful they are all safe.”
Earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said: “My thoughts are with all those affected by the senseless Russian strikes on Kyiv, which have damaged the British Council building.
“Putin is killing children and civilians, and sabotaging hopes of peace. This bloodshed must end.”
The British Council is an arms-length body from the government, and says its mission is to “support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide”.
It facilitates schemes like working, living and learning abroad for British people.
Most of its funding comes from the fees it charges people for its services, but it does also get funding from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
As well as the attack on the British Council building, Russia also targeted the EU delegation building in the Ukrainian capital overnight.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, told reporters two missiles hit within 50 metres of the site in 20 seconds.
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Devastation in Kyiv after deadly Russian attack
And Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the bloc was also summoning Russia’s ambassador following the strike.
“No diplomatic mission should ever be a target,” she said.
The attacks came as part of wider strikes on Kyiv, which destroyed homes and buildings and killed at least 15 people and injured 38, according to Ukrainian officials.
Russia has said it targeted military sites and air bases in its large overnight strike on Ukraine – and that it is still interested in negotiations to meet its aims.
“The special military operation continues,” he said, referring to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which it launched in February 2022.
“You see that strikes on Russian infrastructure facilities are also continuing, and often Russian civilian infrastructure is targeted by the Kyiv regime.”
He added: “At the same time, Russia will maintain its interest in continuing the negotiation process in order to achieve the goals we face through political and diplomatic means.”
Russia’s latest attack on Ukraine has been widely condemned, with Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul saying there must be “consequences”.
“Last night we once again experienced in a terrible way how Russia attacked and bombed Kyiv, civilians died, children died, and the European Union delegation was also attacked,” he told reporters.
“And that cannot remain without consequences.”
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Mr Wadephul added that Germany wanted to show it was considering a further response and that any action would be taken jointly by the EU.
A Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office Spokesperson said: “The UK condemns in the strongest terms these outrageous attacks on Ukrainians and the damage done to the British Council and EU Delegation.
“Russia’s increasing attacks on Ukrainian civilians and cities, including Kyiv, are an escalation of the war and deeply irresponsible and are further sabotaging international peace efforts.
“We have made clear to the Russians that such actions will only harden UK and Western resolve to support Ukraine and bring an end to this unjustified war.
“Russia must stop this senseless killing and destruction immediately.”
A former Metropolitan Police volunteer has been found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a child.
James Bubb, who now identifies as a woman named Gwyn Samuels, assaulted the victim multiple times when she was between the ages of 12 and 18.
Jurors were told Bubb, who identified as male at the time of the offences, would be referred to by their biological sex when allegations were being discussed throughout the trial.
Bubb met the victim on a video chat site in 2018, when he was around 21 and she was 12 years old. They then met in person for the first time at a Christian festival a few months later, the court was told.
The trial heard Bubb sexually assaulted the girl in public shortly before her 13th birthday, and that he was violent towards the girl when he raped her in her early teens.
Pic: Thames Valley Police
In relation to the complainant, Bubb was on Thursday found guilty of one count of raping a child under 13, one count of sexual activity with a child, one count of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, and one count of assault by penetration.
He was found not guilty of one count of rape and one count of sexual activity with a child in relation to that complainant, and found guilty of one count of rape against a second person.
The defendant made no expression as the verdicts were read out, but sobbed with their head in their hands after the foreman finished speaking.
Bubb, who is now 27, started training with the Met in 2020.
The first victim said the defendant spoke “a lot about the powers he had” in his role as a special constable.
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The second complainant was a woman Bubb met online while posing as a 16-year-old girl.
They met when the woman had just turned 18, and were in an on-off relationship between January 2018 and February 2023.
She said Bubb used “BDSM and kink as a way of creating control” over her, and that he would “use police training techniques” on her.
“The control, the power he got, it sure as hell wasn’t consensual,” she told police.
Bubb, of Chesham, Buckinghamshire, will be sentenced at a later date.
Prince Harry will return to the UK on the third anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death next month for a charity awards ceremony.
The Duke of Sussex, 40, will support the WellChild children’s charity on September 8.
Prince Harry, who lives in California with his wife, Meghan Markle, 44, is a long-standing patron of the charity.
The 2025 awards mark three years to the day that Queen Elizabeth II, the duke’s grandmother, died at her home in Balmoral, Aberdeenshire.
‘Their stories remind us of the power of compassion’
Harry said in a statement: “I am always privileged to attend the WellChild Awards and meet the incredible children, families and professionals who inspire us all with their strength and spirit.
“For 20 years, these awards have highlighted the courage of young people living with complex health needs and shone a light on the devoted caregivers – family and professionals – who support them every step of the way.
“Their stories remind us of the power of compassion, connection and community.”
Prince Harry lives in California with wife Meghan Markle. Pic: Yui Mok/Pool via REUTERS
Harry is set to make a speech, present an award to an “inspirational child” aged between four and six and meet and talk with seriously ill children and their families.
He has held the role of the charity’s patron for 17 years and has attended the awards 14 times before.
The charity describes itself as the national children’s charity “making it possible for children and young people with complex medical needs to thrive at home instead of hospital, wherever possible”.
Harry was last seen in the UK in May after losing a long-running battle with the Home Office over changes to his security arrangements.
The visit is likely to fuel speculation that he will meet with his father, the King, and estranged brother, Prince William.
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