A year on from the horror in Southport there's a lesson in choosing love, writes Shelagh Fogarty

We all now know these three little girls and the others brutally injured and changed forever by the inexplicable cruelty of Axel Rudakubana, now serving at least 52 years in prison for his crimes. I’ll mention him no more.

It’s been a year since a sunny Southport day, and the happy noise of carefree girls enjoying a Taylor Swift dance morning turned into every parent’s worst nightmare. The court hearings, CCTV of the attack and the survivors’ own accounts are all on record.

Most of us are blessed to only know it at one remove. Bad enough.

The families are not so lucky. Parents tell of their unspeakable loss and those who still have their children describe changed girls now nervous, untrusting or unable to sleep alone. I can only imagine the heartsore way they must now love their daughters. Happy to have them, shattered for them.

I recall precisely the moment close to midday when an old contact from my days as a reporter on Merseyside texted me to say “something terrible is happening in Southport. You might want to get a reporter down here”.

I texted back with questions, but they didn’t really have many answers.

Possible nursery. Children injured. Sirens very loud. Chaos still.

In Southport? Southport? The place we went to for fun as kids from Liverpool. The fun fair, the open spaces and best of all the beaches.

Southport in my childhood memories is blue skies, a 99 ice cream and swimming in the sea at Ainsdale.

Never chaos and terror.

That Southport of my memories is still there, of course. Countless children still enjoy the things I did, and what’s so impressive and moving is that Elsie, Bibi and Alice’s families, despite the lights going out in one sense, seem inspired by their girls to still try to live well and in the spirit of those beautiful children.

We know what followed. As the dignified and broken parents of Southport took care of each other and good people prayed for them, stood with them, sent heartfelt condolences from around the world, bad people took advantage and chose destruction. There’d be more later that week in many parts of the UK.

As I write, 820 people have been convicted since the riots. 100 or more cases are still pending. Hundreds of years in jail collectively. Good.

Today, let’s ‘Choose Love’ as the saying goes.

Let’s choose to follow the example of the families who grieve for their lost or injured girls.

We’ll never see their darkest days but what they’ve already shown us is the will to live in the spirit of their daughters.

They’re the true leaders from Southport.

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Listen to LBC's Shelagh Fogarty from 1-4pm Monday to Friday on the new LBC app.

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