Steven Gerrard donates £10,000 to Southport attack victims

Steven Gerrard has donated to the Southport Dance Group Emergency Fund

Former England and Liverpool footballer Steven Gerrard has donated £10,000 to a fundraiser for people affected by the stabbings in Southport.

Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar died after a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed event in the town on Monday.

Gerrard's message on the Southport Dance Group Emergency Fund, set up on behalf of preschool dance companies in the UK, said he was thinking of all the families involved in "this horrific attack on innocent young lives. Sending love to you all x".

The fund, which organisers say will directly support the families affected, has so far raised more than £70,000.

Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice Dasilva Aguiar and Bebe King died after the attack

Former Everton winger Anthony Gordon has also donated £10,000 to the fund.

Other fundraisers have also been launched including one by Taylor Swift fans and Sefton Council.

Swifties Fundraiser for Alder Hey Children's Charity has raised more than £330,000 and organisers said every donation would "help make a difference to those impacted in a time of great sadness".

Sefton Council's Southport Strong Together Appeal has also raised more than £60,000, with the council saying the money raised would "help to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of those affected".

Rae Brooks, chief executive of the Communities Foundation for Lancashire and Merseyside, said the council's priority was the victims and their families as well as the wider community.

"There is that community need that will go on for some months, even maybe years, where people will need to come to terms with what's happened here," she said.

"There will be a lot of community healing necessary so we'll be looking to support local community initiatives to help young people, as well as the rest of the community, try to deal with their emotional wellness."

A 17-year-old boy has appeared in court charged with murdering the three girls and 10 counts of attempted murder.

The boy, who is from the Lancashire village of Banks, appeared at a youth court in Liverpool, also charged with possession of a bladed article.

He was remanded into youth detention accommodation and will appear at Liverpool Crown Court later.