A 17-year-old boy has appeared in a UK court charged with the murder of three girls who were stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside.
The teenager, from Banks in Lancashire, appeared in the dock at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article.
Alice Dasilva Aguiar (9), Bebe King (6), and Elsie Dot Stancombe (7) were fatally stabbed on Monday when a knifeman entered the dance class on Hart Street in Southport, Merseyside.
Eight other children suffered knife wounds – with five of them in a critical condition – while two adults were also critically hurt.
The boy was charged with the attempted murder of the two adults, Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, as well as the attempted murder of the eight children who cannot be named for legal reasons.
He was remanded into youth detention accommodation and will appear at Liverpool Crown Court later on Thursday. The teenager cannot be named because he is under 18.
The defendant came to court at about 9am in a prison van with a large police escort of vans and cars. Around 20 members of the press attended court 3.6, a youth court, before District Judge James Hatton sitting at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court.
The hearing dealt largely with administrative legal matters ahead of his appearance before another judge later on Thursday.
None of the families of either the victims or defendant were in court for the brief hearing.
British prime minister Keir Starmer will meet senior police leaders on Thursday after a second night of clashes between protesters and police prompted by the deaths of three young girls in the knife attack at a dance class.
There were angry scenes in London on Wednesday evening as thousands of anti-immigration protesters gathered near Starmer’s Downing Street office and residence chanting “save our kids” and “we want our country back”.
The previous night more than 50 police officers were injured in violent clashes in the English seaside town of Southport, where Monday's stabbings took place.
Mr Starmer will commit to working in partnership with police forces across the UK to stop “mindless violence” following scenes of unrest in Southport, London, Hartlepool and elsewhere.
He is expected to remind the police that people “exploit” the right to protest in order to “sow hatred” or commit “violent acts” should be met with “the full force of the law”.
Mr Starmer’s office said he would use Thursday’s meeting with police to “offer them the government’s full backing following multiple high-profile incidents of extreme violence and public disorder on our streets”.
“While the right to peaceful protest must be protected at all costs, he will be clear that criminals who exploit that right in order to sow hatred and carry out violent acts will face the full force of the law,” his office added.
The disorder took place after false information was spread on social media that the suspect was a radical Islamist migrant.
Police are legally restricted in the details they can provide about the alleged teenage attacker, but they have said the incident was not terrorism-related and that he was born in Britain, quashing speculation on his origins. – Agencies