29 July 2025, 10:13 | Updated: 30 July 2025, 07:11

By Shelagh Fogarty

In the moments after the Lionesses’ win at the European Championship on Sunday, as thousands of little girls in the stadium and millions more at home jumped and cheered with the excitement of it all, my thoughts turned to three in particular who never would - Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King.

We all now know these three little girls and the others brutally injured and changed forever by the inexplicable cruelty of Axel Rudakubana, now serving at least 52 years in prison for his crimes. I’ll mention him no more.

It’s been a year since a sunny Southport day, and the happy noise of carefree girls enjoying a Taylor Swift dance morning turned into every parent’s worst nightmare. The court hearings, CCTV of the attack and the survivors’ own accounts are all on record.

Most of us are blessed to only know it........

© LBC