Brave yoga teacher Leanne Lucas almost died in the Southport attack last year when she was stabbed five times, now she has described for the first time how she helped several children run to safety
Southport attack yoga teacher Leanne Lucas recounts tragic scenes
The hero yoga teacher who was almost killed by evil Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has told of her desperate bid to save the lives of little girls during the massacre.
Brave Leanne Lucas was stabbed fives times when Rudakubana, 18, burst into her Taylor Swift-themed dance class during the summer holidays last year and went on the rampage. She suffered stab wounds to the head, spine, lung, ribs and shoulder blade at the hands of the monster, who murdered Alice Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six.
Several other youngsters were among the 10 people injured during the horror attack, but police told Leanne “they would have all died” if she hadn’t bravely led the children to safety despite her own horrific injuries.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the attack, she told the BBC: “He just grabbed a child. I don’t know what he was doing. He then grabbed the next child, and the next child. And then I shout: ‘Who is that?’
“And then he moves from the girls at the table and moves over to right next to me. I just felt something go in my back. And my brain just said ‘he’s got me’. And then he got me again.
“But just knew that if I didn’t get out, everyone was going to die. He was bigger than me and I just thought ‘I need to get some help’.”
Leanne told how told the children to run and desperately rang 999 as they made a dash to safety and told the call handler: “There’s children inside, there’s children inside.
“The police said we’d all be dead if me and Heidi [her fellow dance teacher] hadn’t done what we’d done.”
Speaking on an episode of BBC’s panorama – due to air tonight – Leanne tells how she saw Rudakubana enter the children’s dance class she was running last July.
A 13-year-old who helped to run the class also told the BBC that Rudakubana looked “possessed” as he stabbed her.
The youngster – who is now 14 and can’t be named due to a court order – told how another “incredible” girl, who appeared to be only about 10 years old, was keeping other children calm, telling them: “Don’t worry, your parents are going to be here, everything’s going to be OK.”
Prior to being sentenced to life in prison last month, it emerged that he had a history of violent behaviour and was known to the authorities.
Rudakubana had arrived at the Hart Space, where the class was being run, by taxi and was wearing a bright green hoodie and a medical face mask that covered his mouth.
Chilling dashcam footage shows him trying a locked door at the Hart Space before walking through an open doorway and heading up the stairs.
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