'I'm pleased they don't have to relive the attack'

Steve took about a dozen children from the dance class into his home

A man who sheltered children as they fled the Southport attack has said he is relieved parents are being spared having to relive the trauma in a trial following the killer's guilty pleas.

Axel Rudakubana murdered Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and injured 10 others, on 29 July last year.

As his trial was set to begin at Liverpool Crown Court, the 18-year-old entered guilty pleas to all charges, meaning no trial will be necessary.

Steve, who lives near the venue where the attack took place during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, told how he was disturbed by screams before allowing about a dozen fleeing children to take refuge in his home.

He said: "I was going to rebuild my front wall when I heard all the screaming and then all the young kids came running down the road.

"I just took them all in the house and locked the door.

"They were all saying 'he's got a knife and he is stabbing everybody' so I just ran back over to see what I could do.

"My wife calmed them all down and told them no-one is going to get in this house. No-one is going to get you in here."

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe were killed

Their worried parents then started arriving, he said.

He continued: "It was good to see the kids getting reunited with their dads and the mums as some of them were absolutely hysterical."

He said the families had since bought cards, flowers and gifts for him and his wife.

The Hillsborough disaster survivor said: "There's three little girls gone, that's the tragedy of everything.

"But the ones that have survived, let's hope they're all alright."

He said he is pleased the parents do not have relive everything that happened in a trial - where the evidence would have had to be scrutinised in minute detail.

"I'm glad for the parents they haven't all got to sit there day after day going through it all and listen to horrific things that have happened to their kids," he said.

Steve himself had been due to give evidence, so added he was personally relieved, too.

"I'm glad I don't have to go myself," he said.