21-05-2025
Southport yoga teacher: I haven't used a knife since the attack
Leanne Lucas was weeks away from completing her studies as a counsellor to further her thriving wellness business when an act of misogynistic violence shattered her world.
The 36-year-old primary school teacher was leading a group of young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed yoga and dance class in Southport on July 29 last year when horror descended. A hooded teenager, Axel Rudakubana, now 18, burst in and fatally stabbed Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and tried to kill ten others — including Lucas.
It later emerged that Rudakubana had circumvented age verification checks to buy a kitchen knife on Amazon. Lucas suffered serious injuries as she tried to protect the girls. In January, the killer admitted his