Southport dance teacher Leanne Lucas tells inquiry that locking door wouldn’t have stopped attack

The teacher who organised the Southport dance class where three children were murdered has told the public inquiry that “multiple organisations” could have stopped the killer and locking the door would not have made a difference.

Leanne Lucas, 36, who was badly injured in the attack, said she had followed all the procedures and there was nothing she could or should have done differently to keep the children safe.

The teacher said that if she had known there was a risk to the children she would never have organised the event, and called on authorities to make educators aware so they can take “informed decisions”.

She was due to give evidence to the inquiry, but the hearing at Liverpool Town Hall was told she was “not fit to give evidence”.

In a statement, Ms Lucas said she had not held an event since and had not been able to resume her career as a primary school teacher, describing the “huge toll” the attack had taken on her mental wellbeing.

The inquiry was looking at what security measures might have prevented the attack but heard there was no requirement for locked doors or video phone entry.

Alice Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July last year by Axel Rudakubana, who was jailed for a minimum of 52 years.

The class took place in an upstairs studio at the Hart Space, which had an unlocked communal door that also allowed access to a legal costs firm across the landing.

The double wooden doors to the studio were also left unlocked so children could go to the toilet and parents could pick up and drop off their children, the inquiry was told.

Both doors also served as fire exits which had to be kept “unobstructed and easy to open”.

If the upstairs door had been locked and someone had knocked on it, Ms Lucas said she would have opened the door, “assuming it to be an arriving parent”.

She had been a primary school teacher for 15 years, was qualified, knew the venue and had conducted a risk assessment.

If the inquiry were to conclude that intercom facilities and cameras were required for a small community activity, the government would need to provide funding, she said.

Asked if the right “guidance and resources” were available to organise the event, Ms Lucas said: “In hindsight, I cannot possibly now say it was adequate.

“Nothing ever advised me that I should plan for what to do if the workshop came under attack – if it had, I simply would not have held such an event.

“Despite having all the required documentation aligned with guidelines, this was all irrelevant when faced with an unforeseen life or death situation.”

The inquiry has heard that Rudakubana had been excluded from one school after taking a knife into school and attacking a pupil with a hockey stick and was referred to the Prevent de-radicalisation scheme three times for viewing violent material online.

Ms Lucas said it was “a situation that should have been under control and prevented by multiple organisations and services that keep the general public safe – those organisations and services have let me down”.

Nicholas Moss KC, for the inquiry, reading from her statement, said: “Had she known there was someone who was planning on killing children, she would not have organised a club.

“She would not have delivered the workshop if she had foreseen it as even a possibility.”

Read more from Sky News:
COVID inquiry hears kids spent ’19 hours a day’ on online games
Met officers could be forced to reveal if they are Freemasons

Activity providers could be quality assured and held on a database that could then be alerted, and the council and the police notified where and when each activity takes place, so they can communicate in the event of an emergency, she said.

Giving earlier evidence, Ms Lucas said she had received “relentless” online abuse and added: “Each cruel word drags me back when I try to take a step forward.”

“There is no ‘getting over it’, only learning how to carry on.”

The inquiry continues on Tuesday.