'A frenzied attack' Residents tell of horror after deadly atrocity in suburban street

It was shortly before midday on what felt like the hottest day of the year when the sound of children playing was shattered by screams.

- Josh Halliday & Hannah Al-Othman

Girls as young as five ran in fear, some covered in blood, after their Taylor Swift dance class on the first week of the summer holidays turned into an atrocity.

A 17-year-old boy wearing a hood and a Covid face mask had walked into the class in the seaside town of Southport in Merseyside, having taken a taxi from a nearby village.

Alaina Riley, 18, said her aunt rang her "screaming down the phone" after witnessing "little kids run out screaming covered in blood" and two staff members "crawling" out of the building.

Parents had just arrived to pick up their daughters from the Hart Space, which was hosting the Swift-themed holiday club, when the attack began. Colin Parry, the owner of the nearby Masters car repair shop, said he had a brief exchange with a male he believed to be the attacker minutes before the stabbing.

He said: "He came down our driveway in a taxi and didn't pay for the taxi, so I confronted him at that point. He was quite aggressive he said: 'What are you gonna do about it?' "The customer I was dealing with at the time confronted him as well, and he [the attacker] said the same to him. Then he turned around and walked out of the drive."

Parry continued working on a vehicle and moments later got a telephone call from a colleague saying "You need to get outside here now, get out here", he added.

"I went out and there's two or three kids just lying on the floor. I mean, it's a frenzied attack. It's not one stab. He's gone crazy, the lad's gone crazy," he said.