I came face to face with Southport killer Axel Rudakubana in dance studio during massacre – and carried victims out

A HERO of the Southport knife attacks has told for the first time how he confronted killer Axel Rudakubana — and said of that fateful day: “The horror will live with me forever.”. Joel Verite, 26, was among the first on the scene as the teenage fiend ran amok last year – leaving three young girls dead and stabbing eight more. Dad-of-two Joel was just six feet away from Rudakubana, who was wielding a 20cm-long knife at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event.

He still refuses to say the name of the killer, jailed for a minimum of 52 years last month. Personal trainer Joel recalled: “He’s looked at me. He had his hood up and a big kitchen knife. I just don’t understand how anyone can do anything like that to innocent girls. He definitely doesn’t deserve to be alive.”. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar died in the horror which shocked the nation on July 29 last year.

Joel told how he had been taking a well-earned break on that boiling hot day, helping pal Marcin Tyjon with his window-cleaning business. He said: “It was a normal day apart from the fact it was roasting. We’d stopped off to get a coffee and a chat and were joking and kept saying, ‘Another five minutes’ before we get back to work. “Then we set off for our next customer and were driving down the road. We had the music on and the windows down.”.

Meanwhile, Rudakubana — armed with a £1.70 kitchen knife bought on Amazon — was in the Hart Space community centre, where 26 children aged between six and 11 had been enjoying a two-hour play and dance session. CCTV footage showed some fleeing the studio with yoga teacher Leanne Lucas, who organised the session with pal Heidi Liddle. Marcin - who Joel calls Martin - suddenly noticed a “commotion”, with Leanne slumped against a car.

Joel said: “I jumped out of the van and went up to her. She just shouted, ‘He’s stabbing kids in there’. "She pointed towards where the studio was. I didn’t understand what was going on but I saw a big wound on her shoulder and realised something serious was happening. "She was on the phone to the police. She stood up and pointed to where it was and then collapsed on the floor. “I picked up her phone and said to the police, ‘This woman has been hurt and you need to get here as fast as you can’.”.

As Joel ran towards the studio, a woman in a car furiously honked the horn. He said: “I went over and she had four or five girls in the car. She’s got her daughter there next to her in the passenger seat. “There’s four or five girls in the back seat. We didn’t really have a clue what was going on. “She just said to me, ‘Can you please get this girl out?’ I look at this poor girl and it’s heartbreaking. I’ve picked her up out of the car and I’m running and I’m shouting and screaming for help.”.

As more people began to gather, Marcin started performing CPR on the girl, who Joel later found out was Alice, one of the deceased. Joel, who took his T-shirt off to help stem the blood, said: “It was just something you literally see in a horror film. "People were coming to see what was going on and when they realised children were hurt they got involved straight away.”. Now in just his shorts and work boots, Joel then went into the studio as he feared that “this awful thing is still going on”.

We could see the horror in their faces, knowing that, obviously, something could have happened to their child. He said: “There was blood everywhere on the staircase. I’ve got halfway up the staircase and I’m shouting, ‘Hello, hello’. I couldn’t hear any noise. "I looked up and literally he’s come and circled round and looked at me. "He’s on the top of the landing, looking at me on the staircase, and he’s scurried back off into the room. He had his hood up and a big kitchen knife.

“I’m literally kind of frozen and I’m standing on the stairs and was like, ‘What the f*** do I do?’. “It’s easy for people to think, ‘I would have done this and that’ when you watch films. But I’ll tell you now, until you’re in that situation, you think very differently. “Especially with having my two young ones as well. I might not be here today if I did actually do what I probably really wanted to do.”.

Joel went on: “What I witnessed was like a scene from a disaster movie. The horror will live with me forever.”. Joel, a former Wigan Warriors rugby league academy player, used a bin to smash the glass door to ensure Rudakubana could not lock the building shut. He sensibly retreated before returning with garage mechanics armed with makeshift weapons. Footage shown at Rudakubana’s sentencing captured the moment Joel and three others walked towards the door.

As they did, a police patrol car arrived and Sgt Greg Gillespie - the first officer on the scene - jumped out. Joel told him what was happening but as the officer was only armed with a baton, they had to briefly wait for one with a Taser. Joel said: “About 40 seconds after Greg turns up, this other cop pulls up and he gets out of his car, comes straight past me and Greg, he goes upstairs straight away, Greg behind him, then I’m behind Greg, straight up the stairs, and then they tackled that piece of s***.”.