The heartbroken mother of seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, killed in the Southport attack, told a public inquiry she desperately needs to understand how the tragedy occurred. Jenni Stancombe gave emotional impact evidence to the Southport Inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall on Monday, demanding answers about the stabbing that claimed her daughter's life.
Elsie died alongside Bebe King, six, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar when Axel Rudakubana carried out the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year. Jenni Stancombe, 37, told the inquiry: "Elsie only went to dance, make bracelets, and I never got to bring her home."
Mother's devastating testimony
The grieving mother described the unbearable reality of living without her daughter. "I walk past an empty bed every night, I stare into her room praying this nightmare will end, but it never does, we live it every day," she said. She emphasised they were simply good parents wanting to do something nice for their daughter at the start of the school holidays.
Jenni Stancombe, sitting alongside her husband David, 37, called for urgent action to prevent such attacks. "We will fight for justice, for change, to keep our children safe, changes need to be made to prevent this from ever happening again," she told the inquiry. She stressed that no other parent should experience such devastating pain.
The day everything changed
The mother recounted how their world "shattered" when they received the phone call about the stabbing. She described running to the Hart Street studio and screaming Elsie's name, while police officers physically restrained David from entering the building. She went around checking injured girls, desperately searching for her daughter.
Initially told Elsie had been taken to hospital, Jenni Stancombe clung to hope until a police officer revealed someone matching her daughter's description was still inside the building. "I now know Elsie never left the building. All the time I was there, I thought she was receiving help, Elsie could not be helped," she said. The inquiry is also scheduled to hear evidence from the parents of Bebe and Alice on Monday.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
