Ian Shoesmith
Live page editor

That concludes our coverage of the opening day of the Southport Inquiry's latest hearings.

A summary of the evidence heard today has just been published by our colleagues - you can find that by clicking here.

More witnesses will deliver their evidence tomorrow and during the rest of this week - we will of course bring you comprehensive coverage from Liverpool Town Hall.

In the meantime, thank you for joining us, and good afternoon.

Judith Moritz
Special correspondent, reporting from the Southport Inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall

The trauma suffered by the Southport attack's surviving children - and their families - has been laid bare here at Liverpool Town Hall today.

Parents have described children who are too frightened to sleep alone, and who are so damaged by what they've seen and heard they still can’t speak about what happened.

They spoke of little girls who found the courage to save themselves from the attacker, but who are now unable to cope with daily life.

It was staggeringly powerful. The inquiry room was silent as the parents spoke. Some cried as they delivered their statements but they were utterly determined to get through the process.

Inquiry Chairman Sir Adrian Fulford listened with rapt attention to each account.

It has set the tone for the weeks of evidence to follow.

Judith Moritz
Special correspondent, reporting from the Southport Inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall

The Southport Inquiry has been set up to find answers: How was the attack possible? Why were opportunities to stop the attacker missed? What change needs to be made to prevent something similar happening again?

Inquiries like this always pledge to keep the victims at the centre of their work as they examine such questions, but this inquiry has a particular challenge to contend with on that front.

The majority of those caught up in the horror were children. There were 26 girls there on the day, some as young as six years old.

Three were murdered. Another eight were physically injured, and a further 15 escaped. All have suffered terrible psychological injury.

All but one of them are too young to take part in the inquiry themselves - if they even know it’s happening at all.

All of them have been anonymised, with letters and numbers replacing their names, and reporters unable to publish anything which may lead to their identification.

You might, therefore, imagine that their voices might be silenced, and their testimony lost. But that’s not the case at all.

One by one, the children’s parents have been coming to the witness box to give voice to their daughters’ experiences.

Asya Robins
Live reporter

We've been hearing from the mothers of children who were at the site of the Southport killings, as well as Jonathan Hayes, who was stabbed and severely injured as he tried to stop the attack.

Evidence will continue to be heard at the public inquiry for the rest of this week.

The inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall is tasked with examining the background of the now 18-year-old who is serving a minimum sentence of 52 years for murdering three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July 2024.

It is focusing on his dealings with all of the relevant agencies, along with any missed opportunities to prevent what happened.

Chair of the Inquiry Sir Adrian Fulford called the attack “one of the most egregious crimes in our country’s history".

We then heard statements from the mothers of children referred to as C6, Child T, Child M and Child U, who all spoke of the trauma their families have had to endure ever since.

As a reminder, an anonymity ruling protects the surviving children - and their families - who were involved in the attack.

One mother told the inquiry that while "deeply grateful that our girls are still alive" this gratitude "exists alongside the heavy weight of trauma, grief and the daily reality of PTSD".

Another said the scene of the incident "is burnt into my memory and is a continual companion".

Earlier, John Hayes vividly described the attack and its immediate aftermath, as well as how it has forever changed him.

Judith Moritz
Reporting from the inquiry

Today’s hearing has finished.

Counsel to the Inquiry Nicholas Moss KC has explained that they are holding shorter days this week, so that there is enough space between statements from the parents of the surviving children, as well as the adult survivors.

Sir Adrian Fulford, the inquiry chairman, said: “It is critically important that this evidence is staggered.

"This is a highly unusual part of the proceedings."

Mairead Smyth
Reporting from the inquiry

Solicitor Nicola Ryan-Donnelly continues reading the statement from Child U's mother.

She tells the inquiry the dreams she had for her daughter and her friend "are gone forever".

She says: "I constantly worry about her future. I worry about the long-term effects of this trauma, about how adverse childhood experiences like this shape the adult she will become.

"I worry that she will carry guilt, shame, fear - none of which belong to her, but all of which were forced upon her."

She says much of her daughter's experiences are "all locked inside" because she still does not "feel safe" enough to share them - even to her mother.

She says: "But I see it in her in her eyes and in the way she holds herself, in the quiet moments when she thinks no-one else is watching.

"What I have shared here is only what I’ve been able to witness from the outside, because I am still on the outside in all of this.

"The rest, the deepest hurt she bears alone every single day. That in itself shows the depth of the damage, that she has learnt to protect herself by staying silent. I don’t like to say it but the fear is that she is changed forever.

"She lives each day trying to built some sense of safety in a world that betrayed her. She will forever carry the consequences of that day, of his actions forever.

"This is her reality. This is her life sentence."

Those words conclude Child U's mother's statement.

Mairead Smyth
Reporting from the inquiry

Solicitor Nicola Ryan-Donnelly continues reading the statement from Child U's mother.

In her statement, she wrote that her daughter "still begs Mummy to sleep with her" at night.

"But what she doesn’t know and I won’t allow myself to show her is that Mummy is scared too," she says.

"Mummy sobs in bed at night. Mummy is woken by the nightmares, the visions of what she saw that day, of that man’s evil face."

"Both of us are haunted, powerless because it turns out monsters really do exist.

"There is no healing that will bring things back to how they were. No outcome will take away the pain.

"It won’t make my sweet little girl feel safe and it won't bring back her beautiful best friend."

Mairead Smyth
Reporting from the inquiry

Child U's mother's statement is continuing here at Liverpool Town Hall.

Her words are read by solicitor Nicola Ryan-Donnelly.

Child U's daughter has been left with an "extreme and very specific fear of knives" and cannot bear the sight of blood.

However, the mother says: "When outsiders ask how she is doing, I usually say 'she’s doing OK thanks' because how do you explain to acquaintances that we are both experiencing unimaginable feelings of hurt, guilt and anxiety?"

She tells the inquiry: "The grief of what she witnessed and of losing her best friend, is something that haunts her. It is always there both for her and me. She carries the pain of survival.

"The confusion of being here when her friend is not. There is guilt, there is sadness, there is a deep heavy grief that she cannot name but clearly feels."

Mairead Smyth
Reporting from the inquiry

Solicitor Nicola Ryan-Donnelly continues reading the statement from Child U's mother.

She tells the inquiry: "People don’t see the truth of our life. They don’t realise that the things that children are supposed to enjoy now re-traumatise her.

"When we attended a children’s Halloween disco, this being something she would have loved before, she saw a little boy in a fancy dress costume with a blood-stained toy knife.

"She became so distressed that she clung to me until I physically carried her out to the car and we left. She couldn’t verbalise what she had seen and how that made her feel, but she didn’t need to. It was evident.

"She had to leave a Christmas pantomime because when the 'bad man' came in with a knife to kill Snow White: she couldn’t bear to watch the rest for fear of what she might have to see... again.

"She will no longer watch new films or TV shows unless she knows exactly what to expect. If there’s even the slightest chance that something 'bad' might happen, she can’t watch it.

"She lies in a state of constant vigilance, her little brain scanning every person or situation for danger. She cannot let go of my hand in the shop, or speak to anyone who is unfamiliar, she sees risk everywhere.

"I would now describe her as having a nervous disposition. But it is more than just nerves, it is trauma. Deep ongoing trauma."

Mairead Smyth
Reporting from the inquiry

Solicitor Nicola Ryan-Donnelly continues reading the statement from Child U's mother.

She says: "[My daughter] no longer plays at lunch. Instead of running around the playground with friends, she chooses to sit with her teacher in a quieter space, trying to feel safe.

"She cannot tolerate the school hall, or the playground, the noise and the chaos, the unpredictability.

"They overwhelm her. She no longer attends dance class, she won’t go to any of her previously loved activities.

"She cannot attend birthday parties, unless I stay with her the entire time. She cannot be left alone because, to her, the world is unsafe.

"Other children do these things with joy and excitement. My daughter only feels anxiety and fear.

"What she experienced has rocked her entire world. It has removed her innocence and left her second-guessing everything and everyone."

Mairead Smyth
Reporting from the inquiry

Solicitor Nicola Ryan-Donnelly continues reading the words of Child U's mother.

She says that while she struggled with whether to share their experiences, she wanted to give her daughter a "voice".

"When friends have asked me how things have been over the past year I have used the word 'unbearable', she says.

"But in truth, that word doesn’t fully apply. Because 'unbearable' means something too painful to be endured.

"And yet here we are, enduring it. Not because we can, but because we have no choice. This is our new reality."

She says her daughter is unable to verbalise her traumatic memories and what she "contnues to carry inside her".

"She is not just traumatised, she is grieving. The loss of her best friend in the most violent and unthinkable way. The loss is something she still cannot speak about.

"Even saying her friend’s name is simply too painful for her.

"Because of what that man did, my daughter is changed forever."

Mairead Smyth
Reporting from the inquiry

Child U's mother's statement continues to be read at Liverpool Town Hall.

She says she feels the word "lucky" is misused.

"Lucky is winning a raffle or finding money in your coat pocket.

"Surviving something that has shattered you is not luck - it’s survival. It’s being forced to live with a lifetime of pain, fear and grief.

"It’s waking up every day with the knowledge of what you saw, what you lost and what you can never get back.

"Calling this 'lucky' ignores the cost of carrying it.

"It dismisses a lifetime of scars that you cannot see, and you cannot even begin to imagine.

"Lucky would be having the little girl I had before."

Mairead Smyth
Reporting from the inquiry

Solicitor Nicola Ryan-Donnelly continues reading the statement from Child U's mother.

She says she has spent "every day trying to pretend I'm OK" and "If I am doing that I can’t even start to understand how my daughter does it."

She says the family has struggled with sharing their trauma because their daughter survived and they are "made to feel lucky".

However in the statement she tells the inquiry: "I was lucky before this happened. I had a daughter who was beautiful in every way.

"She was bright-eyed and quick to laugh, with a spirit that filled every room she walked into.

"She was fun-loving and wonderfully silly - always making up songs, inventing games and turning the smallest moments into an adventure.

"She had a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, the kind that makes you wonder what she’s about to dream up next. She was my wild, crazy and full-of-life little girl. Unique and unforgettable, with a heart so big it spilled over into everything she did."

Mairead Smyth
Reporting from the inquiry

The next statement to the Southport inquiry comes from the mother of Child U.

It will be read on her behalf at Liverpool Town Hall by her solicitor, Nicola Ryan-Donnelly.

She reads: "I don’t believe I can say anything that will truly capture the impact this incident has had on us as a family.

"However, I also feel that I can’t not try to either. And that in itself almost sums it up, that nothing feels OK.

"Doing feels wrong, inaction feels wrong, talking feels wrong, silence feels wrong.

"Being the traumatised parent of a traumatised child is a life of impossible choices.

"Of constant emotional exhaustion. Struggles are carried silently because you fear that if people really knew, you might be judged somehow."

Judith Moritz
Reporting from the inquiry

The mother of Child M goes on to tell the inquiry: "Our daughter is strong and surrounded by love. We are incredibly lucky to be surrounded by wonderful family friends and teachers who have stood beside us throughout the past year.

"Yet despite this, we felt we had no option but to move out of Southport. To be in such close proximity to where it happened became too much.

"Simply stepping out of our front door was re-traumatising for us all. We needed a fresh start, a safer space to try and find some form of normality again. I will never stop regretting my decision to leave the house later that day.

"The guilt I carry, and the horror of what I saw, is difficult to live with. I don’t know how to begin to make myself better."

The concludes her statement.

Sir Adrian Fulford tells her: “I am very grateful to you”, as she steps away from the witness stand.

Judith Moritz
Reporting from the inquiry

The mother of Child M says: "Every moment since that horrific day has been incredibly tough for our entire family. Our daughter initially couldn’t speak about what had happened to her and what she witnessed. She has developed an intense fear of noise and of stairs.

"She now wears ear defenders in any environment where voices rise above conversational volume. Sleep is still a struggle, she cannot go to bed alone, she must know that I am close to feel safe.

"She has been in counselling ever since the attack. It wasn’t until just before the one-year anniversary that she was finally able to talk to her counsellor about what happened.

"To hear what she said broke my heart but made me immensely proud of her. She knew she had to run and she did. She saved herself. She looked out for other children and they looked out for her.

"The strength and bravery she showed, along with all of the girls there that day, should be remembered and acknowledged."

Judith Moritz
Reporting from the inquiry

Warning: This post contains graphic detail about the attack

The mother of Child M tells the inquiry she ran to the Hart Street Spaces building.

"I will not describe what I saw when I went up the stairs or into the studio, other than seeing the coward lying face down on the floor being arrested", she says.

"But that scene is burnt into my memory and is a continual companion. It haunts me, appearing both in my nightmares and during the frequent flashbacks I continue to experience daily.

"When I returned outside, I truly believed my daughter was dead.

"I called my husband and told him that if she was gone, I couldn’t carry on. I would have to go with her. I couldn’t let her go alone.

"I vaguely remember someone telling me to go and check the house. I ran. Incredibly, I found her there. Physically she was unharmed, but the trauma, the damage was already done."

Judith Moritz
Reporting from the inquiry

Warning: This post contains graphic detail about the attack

Child M's mother tells the hearing at Liverpool Town Hall she saw a friend's husband on the phone to his wife, and heard him say he "couldn't find the girls".

She tells the inquiry: "I looked over towards the entrance to The Hart Space car park and saw [dance class leader] Leanne Lucas, head in hands and with blood splattered across her.

"There were children lying on the floor. There was blood along the white walls. People were shouting but none of it was making sense.

"After calls to my husband and sister and slowly beginning to understand what was happening, I learnt that some of the girls were sheltering in a house, but that others were still inside.

"I had to face the terrifying possibility that my daughter was one of them.

"I told myself that if she was at the house, she was safe. But if she was still in the building she wasn’t."

Judith Moritz
Reporting from the inquiry

The inquiry has resumed with a statement from the mother of another child, who is referred to at the hearing as Child M.

She reads her statement from the witness stand, accompanied by the child's father.

She says: "On the day of the attack, I made a decision that will haunt me for the rest of my life."

She says before heading to the Hart Street studio, she had hung some washing out.

"It was such a small, ordinary act but one that I have regretted every day since.

"Had I instead headed over earlier, could I have done something? Could I have helped? Could I have stopped the hell that person was inflicting?"

She said as she approached the studio she could hear shouting and sirens.

"Naively, I assumed that someone was having an argument that had gotten out of hand," she says.

"But when I reached the corner of Hart Street I was confronted by a scene that looked like something from a film set."

Asya Robins
Live reporter

Before the lunch break, we also heard from Jonathan Hayes, who was stabbed as he tried to stop the knife attack in Southport.

Here's a recap of what he said:

• He told the inquiry he left his office, which was next door to the location of the attack, when he became aware of a "commotion" involving children being hurt or alarmed
• He described his initial feeling as one of "terror" when he saw a man wielding a bloody knife, and "horror", when he saw critically injured children
• Hayes said he "grappled with the attacker and fell to the floor" and only later realised he had been stabbed
• The businessman suffered a deep wound to his leg, resulting in heavy bleeding
• He thanked his colleagues for helping to save his life, including by applying a makeshift tourniquet
• Hayes said he still gets flashbacks from the day and wakes up with "horrific images in my mind".
• "I don't like knives in the kitchen and I avoid the news," he said

The hearing at Liverpool Town Hall is due to resume at 13:30 BST.

We will continue to bring you live coverage this afternoon.