Southport dance teacher met Taylor Swift backstage at concert, pictures reveal

Yahoo

10-02-2025

The dance teacher who organised the Taylor Swift-themed class in Southport during which three girls were killed has been pictured meeting the pop star backstage.
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, were killed in the attack on July 29 last year, and 10 other people were injured, with eight of them children.
Leanne Lucas, 36, was stabbed five times in the assault and read out a powerful victim impact statement at the killer's sentencing hearing at Liverpool Crown Court last month.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 52 years for the murders.
It has now emerged that before he was jailed, Ms Lucas met with Swift at one of her Eras tour concerts at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
In a picture posted on social media in December, Ms Lucas, dressed in black, is seen smiling alongside the singer.
In court in January, Ms Lucas read her victim's impact statement in person and described how she has lived in constant fear since the attack.
She said: 'As a 36-year-old woman I cannot walk down the street without holding my breath as I bypass a person and then glance back to see if they've attempted to stab me.
'The trauma of being both a victim and a witness has been horrendous. There are times when I spiral into trauma.'
Speaking of Rudakubana, Ms Lucas said he had targeted her and the children because: 'We are women and girls, vulnerable and easy prey.'
Turning to the parents of the victims, she added: 'For Alice, Elsie, Bebe, Heidi and the surviving girls, I'm surviving for you.'
In August, shortly after the attack, Swift met two young girls at one of her Wembley performances who had been injured in the attack.
Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the killings, Swift said: 'The horror of [the] attack in Southport is washing over me continuously and I'm just completely in shock.'
'These were just little kids at a dance class. I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families,' she added.
On the day of the dance class, Ms Lucas and her friend Heidi Liddle had arrived at Hart Space at 9.30am to prepare.
When the children arrived a short while later they were dressed in t-shirts and shorts ready for a day of 'fun and excitement' which included singing, dancing and bracelet-making.
Rudakubana, who had an obsession with extreme violence, arrived at the building at 11.45am and immediately began attacking the children.
As the children ran away Rudakubana chased them out of the building stabbing some in the back as they fled in terror.
He also stabbed Ms Lucas and another man, Jonathan Hayes, who tried to intervene in the attack.
After Rudakubana pleaded guilty to the attack, it was revealed he had been referred to the Government's Prevent scheme on three occasions but the cases were closed.
In an interview with ITV's Good Morning Britain on Monday, Elsie's father, David Stancombe, 36, said: 'No one else should ever go through something like this.'
His wife, Jenni Stancombe, 35, said Swift had asked to meet with the families at one of her shows at Wembley.
Mrs Stancombe showed the singer pictures of Elsie, which she asked to keep.
She added that Elsie would have felt 'all her dreams had come true' if she had known the singer knew her name and had her picture.
The couple, who said they 'won't let evil win this', have set up the charity Elsie's Story in their daughter's memory to help other children in need.
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