'She was grateful for life': parents of Southport stabbing victims pay tribute to their children
8 February 2025, 17:02 | Updated: 8 February 2025, 21:07
Parents of two of the girls killed in the Southport stabbings have paid tribute to their daughters and described the moment they knew 'something awful has happened' to their children.
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Alice da Silva Aguiar, 9, Bebe King, 6, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, were at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on Merseyside when Axel Rudakubana attacked the children with a knife in July 2024.
Jenni Stancombe and the mother of Bebe King gave their first interview to the The Sunday Times.
Stancombe, Elsie's mother, said: "Everything she did was pure enthusiasm. It could be the most boring thing - even, like, David taking the bins out - and it was like, 'I'll come!' She was grateful for life."
The mother of Bebe King said, about her daughter: "She would come out with the most random stuff. She would do it and look at you and laugh as if to say, 'I'm dead funny, aren't I?' She would give you this hug and say, 'I love you, momma'."
"She was the best. Me and her had our own little language.
"Sometimes we would just look at each other and know what each other was thinking."
Bebe's parents reflected on their daughter's kindness.
Her mother said: "She had this power to connect with people and the relationships she had with all her family members were different but very special. She had this innate kindness. She had a spark."
Elsie's uncle Chris Stancombe and Bebe's father said the sentencing of their killer, 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana, should not have been broadcast, saying there was too much detail on the girls' injuries, which is not how they want them to be remembered.
"The sentencing shouldn't have been televised," Chris told the publication.
Bebe's father added: "We know it has to be heard in court but why did the whole nation need to see it on television?"
Stancombe described the moment that she dropped Elsie off at the dance class in Southport.
"I watched her sit down and waved her off and I left her."
Stancombe's mother called her around midday, telling her "Something awful has happened. Somebody's stabbed the kids.
"It's really bad. You need to get here."
Bebe King's mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, recalled being in Marks & Spencer when she received the call from her husband.
She said: "I was about to put my card in the machine, and he called. 'I can't believe I'm telling you this but somebody has gone into the dance class with a knife.'"
Bebe's mother said that she jumped in a taxi, and ran down the street to the dance studio.
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Axel Rudakubana was sentenced to 52 years in jail for the murder of the three young girls.
The teenager had been referred to Prevent on three separate occasions - with no further action being taken at any point.
The killer had shown a clear interest in violence, including the Manchester Arena bombings that killed twenty-two people and saying he "wanted to stab people."
Last week, a Government review found there was "sufficient risk" posed by Southport killer Axel Rudakubana to keep his cases within the Government's counter-terrorism Prevent programme active and these were "closed prematurely".
The review found "too much focus was placed on the absence of a distinct ideology" - despite his history of violence.
The Government has accepted all 14 recommendations made by the review and pledged to "get Prevent right" in the wake of the tragedy in Southport.
Home Office minister Dan Jarvis told the Commons: "We must get Prevent right. That is why the Home Office and counter-terrorism policing commissioned a rapid Prevent learning review immediately after the attack.
"These are usually internal technical reviews intended to identify swift learning and improvement for Prevent but the importance of the families needing answers has meant that today, following close engagement with the families, we are taking the unusual step of publishing the Prevent learning review."
