A Southport businessman who ran into a Taylor Swift-themed dance club was stabbed in the leg as he tried to disarm the attacker.
Jonathan Hayes, 63, was among those who tried to intervene as a knifeman launched a horrific attack on a group of children enjoying a workshop at the beginning of the school holidays.
The Merseyside attack left two children dead and 11 others, including nine more children, injured with the stabbing taking place at the sold-out dance, yoga and bracelet-making workshop, which was just minutes from finishing.
Hayes’ wife Helen told The Telegraph he regrets not being able to do more to stop the “ferocious attack” at the dance school.
Floral tributes have been left at the scene
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Helen said: “Our office is in the same building as the dance studio, he heard screams and went outside, saw the attacker, saw that he had hurt a child and tried to take the knife off him and got stabbed in the leg.
“The dance studio is tucked away down a little alley, you wouldn’t know that there was a children’s dance studio there just by walking past – you would have to have known it was there.
“I’ve been with [Jonathan] all afternoon at the hospital. He’s very upset that he wasn’t able to be more help. Physically he will be okay, mentally I don’t know.”
Colin Parry, the owner of the Masters Vehicle Body Repairs, which is stationed about 50 metres from the scene, said he had a heated exchange with a young man he believed to be the attacker moments before the attack.
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Emergency services near the scene in Hart Street, Southport,
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Parry said: “He came down our driveway in a taxi and didn’t pay for the taxi, so I confronted him at that point. He was quite aggressive, he said, ‘What are you gonna do about it?'”
A member of staff saw “about 10 kids go running past him, all bleeding, and one of them collapsed on the floor outside the neighbour next door.”
He added: “I went out and there’s two or three kids just lying on the floor. I mean, it’s a frenzied attack. It’s not one stab. He’s gone crazy, the lad’s gone crazy.”
All the casualties are being treated in hospitals, including children’s hospitals in Liverpool and Manchester.
Emergency services at the scene in SouthportPAA 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, remains in custody accused of murder and attempted murder following the incident in Hart Street, Southport, on Monday, Merseyside Police said.
The teenager who was born in Cardiff, is from the village of Banks, just outside Southport, and a road in the area was cordoned off by detectives on Monday afternoon.
Nine children were injured in the stabbings, alongside the two who died and two adults who remain in critical condition after attempting to protect the youngsters.
At the scene, flowers and teddies had been left by the police cordon on Hart Street.