In praise of Southport’s heroes

There is a lot we don’t yet know about yesterday’s unspeakably horrific stabbing spree in Southport, Merseyside, which has claimed the lives of three children and left five further children and three adults in a critical condition. The suspect, a 17-year-old from nearby Banks in Lancashire, cannot be named due to his age, while the investigation into the possible motives remains ongoing.

This murderous attack on innocent children at a summer-holiday dance workshop represents the worst of humanity – an act of barbarism beyond our comprehension. But the best of humanity was also on display in Southport yesterday, as ordinary people put their lives on the line to try to protect as many children as they could, and to bring an end to the horror.

Leanne Lucas, who organised the dance class, and her colleague, dance teacher Heidi Barlow, both 35, are reported to have saved the lives of 16 children by barricading them in a toilet when the knifeman was running amok. Lucas was stabbed and is currently in a critical condition, while Barlow sustained injuries that were not life-threatening.

Then there was Jonathan Hayes, who works in an office in the same building as the dance studio. After he heard screams, he ran towards the unfolding carnage and tried to tackle the attacker and take his knife off him. The 63-year-old Hayes was stabbed in the leg amid the melee.

Joel Verite, a 25-year-old window cleaner, was driving past the dance studio but stopped when he saw an injured woman on the floor. She told him there was ‘a fella stabbing kids up there’, and he immediately ran in to help. Along with two police officers, he tackled the knifeman to the ground.

Time and again, dark events like the Southport attack reveal the extraordinary heroism of supposedly ‘ordinary’ people. When knife-wielding Islamists wreaked havoc in London Bridge in 2017, members of the public fought back, attacking them with crates, pint glasses, skateboards… whatever objects they could get their hands on, risking their lives in the process. In 2019, terrorist Usman Khan was subdued on London Bridge by members of the public using a fire extinguisher, a ceremonial pike and a narwhal tusk.

The courage and selflessness of these ordinary heroes should inspire us all.

Fraser Myers is deputy editor at spiked and host of the spiked podcast. Follow him on X: @FraserMyers.