Southport
Man thought he ‘would be killed’ in Southport stabbing incident
5 months ago
John Hayes, a businessman who was stabbed while trying to disarm the alleged attacker in Southport, recounted his harrowing experience.
Hayes was injured during a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on Monday, which left three girls dead.
The 63-year-old told ITV News of how he ran to help when he realised people were injured.
Mr Hayes, who was discharged from hospital on Thursday, said:
āI heard lots of children running out the buildings, screaming, shouting. And that itself isnāt unusual because kids are very excitable normally when they come out of these classes, so that alone didnāt surprise me or strike me as unusual.
āBut that didnāt then die down, which it normally does, and some of my colleagues got up to look out the window. And it was only at that stage when one of them witnessed a young girl on the floor, I assume, by the front door of entrance to our building.
āAnd said words to the effect, āThereās a girl outside bleeding outā. And as soon as I heard that I ran, I basically ran the full length of our office to go find out if I could help and what was happening to her and I never got as far as her because she was outside.
āSo still on the first floor, when I opened our office door, I was confronted by another girl on the floor who looked like she had multiple stab wounds and was heavily blood-soaked and this guy in front of me with a knife, who then came towards me in a pretty menacing way. And I thought heās going to kill me too.
āI didnāt rationalise, or you donāt have time to do a risk assessment, I just put my arm up when this knife was coming towards me. And I didnāt even realise Iād been stabbed initially, until I looked down and saw blood coming out my leg and I tried to kick him with my right leg and then thatās when I fell over.ā
Mr Hayes said he was taken on a stretcher to a road which had become a āmakeshift holding areaā and was in āquite a lot of painā.
Mr Hayes added:
āIām glad that personally I didnāt have to witness all the anguish, those parents arriving on to that scene, it must have been horrific for them. I donāt know how theyāll come to terms with that, particularly the three parents have lost children, but others have had a lucky escape including me.ā
Asked if he felt he was a hero, he replied: āIām not going sit here and tell you that I was brave about the whole thing and confronting a knifeman, thatās not the story at all.
āAnd as Iāve said to everybody thatās asked, I donāt want this to be about me. I want this to be about the families of those three little girls. Iām really, really saddened to hear whatās happened and itās going to take me a while to come to terms with that, it really is.ā
Asked how he was doing with trying to come to terms with it, he said: āNot great. Last night I had a few flashbacks which werenāt pleasant. Iām still in quite a lot of pain, but I can get round, Iām hobbling around learning how to lose use crutches. Helen (his wife) has been hugely supportive.ā
He said the parents of Leanne Lucas, the yoga class instructor injured while protecting children at the holiday club, had visited him in hospital and he believed āsheās going to be OKā.
Hayes said:
āI suspect that what she (Leanne) was doing was shielding children, so if you want to talk about real heroes then thatās her definitely. But I believe sheās going to be OK. So yes, I hope everybody makes a recovery.ā
Axel Rudakubana, from Banks in Lancashire, has been charged with the murder of three girls in Southport and appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday.
He is also accused of the attempted murder of yoga class instructor Ms Lucas, Mr Hayes and eight children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and with possession of a kitchen knife with a curved blade.
He was remanded to youth detention accommodation and will next appear in court in October.