Hundreds line streets for funeral of Southport victim

Hundreds of mourners lined the streets of Southport yesterday for the funeral of Alice da Silva Aguiar, one of three young girls killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift dance class.

- ALEXANDER BUTLER, TARA COBHAM

Tributes were paid to the nine-year-old as her parents were joined by up to 300 family members and friends at St Patrick’s Catholic Church yesterday, including the paramedics, police officers and firefighters who tried to save her life.

Dressed in white, her father Sergio and mother Alexandra praised their “beloved angel” during the service, saying she was dedicated to dance and hoped that she would “keep dancing”, before later releasing a series of photographs of Alice, which included a number relating to her dancing passion.

Among the pictures is an image of Alice waiting to get into the Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July, smiling with a lifesize cardboard cut-out of the singer in the doorway of the Hart Space studio.

The youngster – who is pictured wearing leggings, trainers and a T-shirt with the slogan Vacay Vibes – was killed in the mass stabbing in the Merseyside town, along with Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, near the start of their summer holidays.

Members of the public lined Marshside Road yesterday as Alice’s funeral cortege arrived, along with about 30 uniformed police officers, with pink ribbons and balloons seen tied to lamp posts and garden walls. Applause broke out as the carriage, drawn by two white horses sporting orange and white plumes and containing the youngster’s white coffin, approached the church entrance.

Several hundred people then packed into the church, while more listened outside as the service was relayed on loudspeakers.