Leanne Lucas was critically injured in the attack
A yoga teacher who was critically injured in the Southport stabbings has been readmitted to hospital. Leanne Lucas was one of the organisers of the Taylor Swift dance event at The Hart Space on Hart Street, where a male entered and began attacking people with a knife.
Police were called to the scene at 11.55am on Monday, July 29. Alice da Silva Aguiar, aged nine, Bebe King, aged six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died in the attack, where eight other girls and two adults were injured.
Leanne Lucas bravely tried to protect the children from the knifeman, but was critically injured in the attack. She was released from hospital and was recovering at home, however in an update on the GoFundMe page set up for Leanne on Thursday, August 15, a friend said Leanne had been readmitted to hospital.
Trisha and Esther, on behalf of the Lucas family, wrote on the fundraising page: “Leanne had barely begun her road to recovery. Please keep her in your thoughts and continue supporting her as you have been by sharing the page and donating anything you can. Thank you all from the Lucas family.”
It comes after reports that Leanne had “bravely tried to protect” the children who were targeted by the attacker. She reportedly planned the two-hour dance and yoga session to coincide with the school holidays, and taught the class alongside Heidi Barlow. Heidi was also injured in the attack, but not as seriously as Ms Lucas, reports suggest.
A family member said Leanne said she had been stabbed in the back, arms and neck as she attempted to save the children who had been attending her Taylor Swift dance class. Leanne’s cousin, Chris Rimmer told The Times how Leanne bent over two children to protect them from the attacker.
Following concerns for the dance teacher, her family have now reported she is awake after undergoing life-saving surgery. They have told how she sounded “broken” when speaking to loved ones on the phone. Mr Rimmer, 41, told the paper his cousin had woken up from her surgery but “doesn’t remember anything” about the harrowing events. The family have reportedly pieced together a sequence of events from accounts given by first responders at the scene.