Southport victim's mum describes horror scene after daughter, 7, fatally stabbed

The parents of Southportvictim Elsie Dot Stancombe have recalled the horrors they witnessed that day while searching for what happened to their daughter, seven, as they demand change in the system that should have protected them.

Jenni and David Stancombe had felt so lucky with their two little girls and their "perfect life" it was like they had "won the lottery". But Jenni, 35, said that on the day of the attack in July last year, their lives were 'destroyed' and they 'lost everything'.

Fighting back tears, the grieving mum told how she screamed when another parent phoned her to say that the little girls at the Taylor Swift dance class had been stabbed.

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She said: "The scream I let out when I was told someone had just stabbed the girls. David ran down the stairs screaming ‘what’s happened’ but I was already out the door. We drove the car on the other side of the road, screaming at people to get out of the way, holding down the horn as people threw their hands up at us.

"We arrived and left our car in the middle of the road and ran. I was screaming Elsie’s name. David and I both reached the front door to the Hart Space, where two police officers lifted David from his feet and carried him back as he fought to get inside.

"We could see the devastation that had been caused. There were injured girls all around us, I went around each of them looking for Elsie. What we saw that day will stay with us for the rest of our lives. It goes without saying: no human being should ever witness what we did that day."

Jenni told how she screamed after being repeatedly asked what Elsie was wearing, as police desperately tried to find whether their daughter had been taken to hospital or was still at the scene. And when the parents learned that their daughter was still inside and 'hadn't made it', Elsie's dad David fell to his knees.

Jenni added: "I kept being asked what Elsie was wearing, I must have had to repeat myself 10 times over, I actually screamed ‘can you not retain information’. A police officer walked past me and told David someone that matched Elsie’s description was still inside the building and hadn’t made it. David knelt down in front of me and just looked at me.

"I didn’t believe them. I didn’t want to believe them. I insisted they had it wrong and they needed to find out where she was. I now know Elsie never left the building. All the time I was there, I thought she was receiving help, Elsie could not be helped.

"The life we had worked so hard to build for our girls destroyed in that moment. Our lives to never be the same again… We lost our best friend, the little person who made us ‘Mum and Dad’, her sister lost her forever best friend, we lost Elsie."

After losing their eldest daughter, Jenni and David, 36, faced the impossible task of telling her little sister that Elsie was dead. Jenni said it 'was the hardest thing we have ever had to do'. Fighting back sobs, the mum added: "She kept asking repeatably: ‘When is she coming home?’ and we had to tell her: ‘She’s not, it’s not that she doesn’t want too, she can’t’.

"Over time, she has asked how did he hurt Elsie. I have to say, ‘I don’t know’. She’ll say, ‘He must have bitten her or pushed her’. Because to a four-year-old, that’s what ‘being bad’ means. But one day she will need to be told the truth. One day, she’ll have to know what happened to Elsie.

"She continuously asks us: 'Why did we leave Elsie? How did the bad man get in? Will he get out of jail? Why weren’t we there to help her? Where were we? Where was she?' We tell her that Elsie was with adults. That she was in a place that should have been safe, I thought it was safe. But that’s not something a four-year-old can grasp. We don’t understand it ourselves, how can she?"

As they recounted their horrific memories of that day, Jenni told an inquiry into the atrocity 'this can never happen again'. She said: "Changes need to be made to prevent this from ever happening again. This should never have happened in a safe and just society, this cannot happen, no other parent should feel this pain. I stand here today asking this inquiry to ensure that what happened to our little girl is a genuine ‘line in the sand’ as it has been referred to.

"Elsie only went to dance and make bracelets, but we never got to bring her home. I walk past an empty bed every night, I stare into her room praying this nightmare will end, but it never does, we live it every day. We are good parents, just like so many others across the country on that day, wanting to do something nice for our little girl at the start of the holidays. But instead, we didn’t get to bring her home. We lost everything that day. And I need to understand how this happened."

The parents of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine and Bebe King, six, who were also killed that day will give their impact statements to the inquiry later today. Axel Rudakubana, now 19, is serving a 52-year life sentence for the murders of the three little girls and the attempted murders of ten others, including eight children.