Parents of Southport knife attack survivors claim anonymity has hindered support for their daughters. They express concerns that local authorities are unable to assist due to the courts' confidentiality measures.
Key points
Parents of Southport attack survivors express concerns about anonymity.
Twenty-three girls survived the knife attack.
One girl was stabbed 33 times.
Two sisters were injured while trying to protect each other.
Parents believe anonymity has led to insufficient support.
Warning: This article contains distressing and upsetting details
Parents of some of the children injured in the Southport knife attack say they believe they've been given insufficient support because of the anonymity given to them by the courts.
Twenty-three girls survived the attack. The BBC has spoken to the parents of five of them.
They include a girl who was stabbed 33 times, and two sisters who were both injured as the elder tried to shield her younger sibling.
Some parents said their daughters had missed out on support from local authorities after officials told them they did not know who their children were.
All said they felt their daughters were being forgotten as their experiences had been erased from the public's understanding of the attack.
The mother of one of the children said: "There are 23 girls moving around this town, and nobody has any idea who they are."
"Anonymity is not invisibility," said the father of another one of the girls.
"We hope people bear them in mind because it's the absolute least they deserve."
The attack happened at a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga workshop for children in July 2024.
Three girls - Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar - were murdered in what was described as the worst mass stabbing in modern British history.
The attacker, Axel Rudakubana, was arrested and charged with offences including murder and attempted murder, to which he eventually pleaded guilty.
As soon as legal proceedings began, the court order affecting the physically injured girls was imposed, after an application by the prosecution. The children's parents are not seeking to challenge it.
They say they support the order as a means of protecting their daughters' privacy as they grow up, but also feel it has rendered their children invisible.
The parents say they have chosen to speak to the BBC because they want the world to know what their daughters did to survive, and they want the detail of their children's stories to be heard.
To comply with the court order, the names of all the survivors mentioned in this story have been changed.
Daisy is the girl who was stabbed 33 times. Her mum and dad told us she had saved herself, and survived against all the odds.
Their daughter, who was seven at the time, was the last child to escape from the dance studio. She got out having been stabbed more than a dozen times.
She was dragged back inside by the attacker, who continued to hurt her. She then managed to escape for a second time, before collapsing outside.
At the time, Daisy's waist measured just 27cm. The kitchen knife used in the attack had a blade measuring 20cm.
"It was really important for her to know that bravery and heroism started with her - when there wasn't anyone else there, and nobody was able to come to help her," her mum said.
Q&A
What happened during the Southport knife attack?
The Southport knife attack involved a perpetrator stabbing 23 girls, resulting in significant injuries to several of them.
How has anonymity affected the survivors of the Southport attack?
Anonymity granted by the courts has led to parents claiming their daughters have received insufficient support from local authorities.
What specific injuries did the Southport attack survivors sustain?
One survivor was stabbed 33 times, while two sisters were injured during an attempt to shield one another from the attacker.
Why are parents concerned about support for their daughters after the attack?
Parents are worried that local authorities are unable to provide necessary support because they do not know the identities of the injured girls due to anonymity laws.
Mahmoud Khalil’s attorneys to turn to US supreme court after ruling paves way for deportation
Mahmoud Khalil's attorneys will appeal to the US Supreme Court after a federal appeals court ruling allows for his potential deportation. The decision follows a split vote in the third circuit court, marking a significant setback for Khalil's ongoing legal battle.
See every story in News — including breaking news and analysis.
"The damage that was able to be done in such a short space of time is absolutely harrowing for a child to survive and have to live with."
Bethany is the girl who tried to protect her little sister, Amber.
"They got themselves out of that building," her father said. "I don't think enough people understand or know that."
All the surviving children are living with enormous challenges as a result of the attack.
For the sisters, nights are still especially difficult. They each now sleep beside one of their parents.
"They're both medicated to get to sleep," their dad said. "The youngest has nightmares and revisits it all the time."
The mother of another girl, Charlotte, also told us about the psychological legacy of the attack. Charlotte was among the first to be stabbed, before she ran away and took refuge in a car.
"Her innocence has been taken away from her," her mother said.
"She is now aware of things that she shouldn't be aware of. She looks over her shoulder.
"She can't walk the dog without looking behind her and wanting her dad to be near to protect her."
Another girl, Bella, faces lifelong medical consequences. She was 10 at the time of the attack. Her spleen had to be removed, leaving her vulnerable to infection.
"Even a sore throat can lead to something a lot more drastic," her mum said. "We're still kind of navigating what that'll look like."
Bella has also undergone skin graft surgery. She has to wear a pressure garment for 23 hours a day and sleeps in a splint.
"It makes her quite conscious of how she looks because she does look different now," her mum said.
"She's extremely positive - she embraces her scars."
Several families say their anonymity makes others feel nervous to talk to them about what happened, and has made the public and authorities assume the girls are more recovered than they are.
"It's given people permission to sort of forget about them a bit," Daisy's mum said. "It's more comfortable to forget that these girls survived because remembering what they went through is really horrendous."
The families told the BBC how thankful they were for the medical teams who saved their children. Many of the girls regularly fundraise for them, though they are unable to publicly declare their personal reasons for doing so.
However, the parents say longer-term support - particularly mental health care and school provisions - has been inconsistent and difficult to access.
They blame local authorities and the invisibility caused by the anonymity order.
"We've never, until very recently, been aware we were able to access a lot of help from the council," Bella's mum said.
"From what we understand, there were a lot of other options out there, but we were never told about them because no one knew who we were or where we were."
Daisy's mum added: "I think that there is a very wide level of confusion over who is taking responsibility for these children and who is supporting them now, but also who is planning for what that might look like in the future.
"I think we have fallen through the cracks."
Last month, a public inquiry found that failures by multiple agencies - including responsibility being passed between them - meant clear chances to prevent the attack had been missed.
The families who spoke to the BBC say some of those same public bodies have since let them down when it comes to longer-term support for their daughters.
"The communication between those authorities has been poor," Daisy's dad said.
"The response should have been more joined up. It shouldn't have been left to the families to try and piece together the support they are getting or not getting."
He believes the families are now "re-experiencing" the same lack of co-ordination that led to the attack.
"There is no consistency across the group whatsoever," said Nicola Ryan-Donnelly, of Fletchers Solicitors, which represents 22 of the 23 surviving children.
"One of the biggest challenges is a lack of understanding around the anonymity order.
"People are scared to talk about these girls in important rooms, where they need to be represented in order to access support.
"The order protects these girls and their families publicly, but it should not restrict the services they are entitled to access."
The Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales, Claire Waxman, described the parents' accounts as "deeply concerning".
She said the accounts the families had given to the BBC echoed what she had been hearing, and that they raised "serious questions about whether people received the kind of support they should reasonably expect after such extreme trauma".
"Trauma and grief do not follow a timetable, and support cannot be one‑size‑fits‑all," she added. "It must reflect individual need."
Sefton Council, the local authority for Southport, said it continued to provide support "to those directly and indirectly affected" by the attack.
The council said it had set up a dedicated recovery team to co-ordinate its response with a range of agencies.
Lancashire County Council, the neighbouring authority, said it had "reached out to families through local schools and provided support".
"We understand that needs will differ and may change over time and would welcome the chance to meet with families to understand how we can continue to help," the council added.
The families said it was only when they began getting together as a group that they had become aware of the disparity in support they had been offered.
They now meet regularly and the children have even started dance and pilates classes together.
"It's really fun when we dance together, because it feels like we've all been through like the same stuff and only us really understand it," Bella said. "It just feels nice to be together."
There are lots of laughs too.
"It's funny watching the mums dance," Charlotte said, smiling. "I think my mum did an amazing job doing the cha-cha-cha."
All the parents the BBC spoke to share the same hope - that their daughters will one day be able to decide for themselves if they want to reveal their identities.
But before that, they want their bravery to be recognised.
"We want people to know how great our daughter is," Charlotte's dad said. "First and foremost, we want her to know - and in years to come to see that we've told the world how brilliant she is and how utterly in awe we are of her."
Daisy's father says his daughter is determined not to be defined by what happened.
"This isn't her life, and it won't be her life," he said. "She wants to continue living how she did before, with a carefree attitude, where the only thing she really needs to worry about is how long she has to wait for the next Taylor Swift album."
"They fight so hard every day to just keep going and keep going," Bethany and Amber's mum said. "There's so much more to them than the letters and numbers that were given against their name in court."
"All those children are such heroes," Bella's mum added. "Our daughter got herself - critically injured - out of that room and ran for help. They're all amazing. There's no words to describe little girls doing that."
The names of the girls have been changed in line with the court anonymity order and the wishes of their parents.
