How a solemn vigil became a brutal and destructive riot

Violence and chaos broke out in Southport after a ceremony to remember the three girls who lost their lives on Tuesday

- TARA COBHAM

Southport should have been a town in mourning after the tragic loss of three young lives in horrific circumstances - instead, a peaceful vigil on Tuesday later descended into chaos as riots broke out on the streets.

Hours before the moving remembrance service, Merseyside Police confirmed that a third girl had been killed in the “ferocious” knife attack at the Taylor Swift-themed dance class on Hart Street. Shortly after, the force named the victims as Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, who were pronounced dead shortly after Monday’s rampage, while Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, died from her injuries in hospital on Tuesday.

As five more children continued to fight for their lives following the tragedy, along with two dance class teachers who bravely tried to defend their pupils, the tight-knit community of Southport gathered in the town centre at 6pm to grieve together. Hundreds of people held each other and wiped away tears as Martin Abrahams, the spiritual leader at Southport Hospital, said the crowds “show we want to stand together”.

But despite the mournful air, tensions that had been building throughout the day were palpable. Mr Abrahams was interrupted twice – once by a man shouting “we stick together”, and then by panicked calls for paramedics from the centre of the crowd, which temporarily paused the event. It later emerged that a man was arrested with a flick knife just yards away from the vigil.

There were growing fears over how many were going to turn up to a far-right protest planned to take place outside a mosque on St Luke’s Road that evening, an event police were understood to be monitoring.