Yoga instructor who tried to save children in Southport rushed back to hospital

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A yoga teacher who was stabbed during the Southport knife attacks has been rushed back to hospital after her condition deteriorated, her family have said.

Former primary school teacher Leanne Lucas, 35, tried to protect the children in the Taylor Swift-themed dance class during an attack which left three young girls dead on 29 July.

Three children were killed and eight injured after a knifeman launched an attack at the dance studio in the Merseyside seaside town.  She and a colleague are said to have helped shield up to 16 innocent children from the onslaught.

Ms Lucas has been readmitted to hospital due to breathing problems.

Posting to a GoFundMe page set up to support the instructor, a friend wrote: "Unfortunately this week Leanne was readmitted to hospital due [to] struggling with her breathing. She is waiting for an operation for another drain on her lung due to infection.”

The update continued: “Leanne had barely begun her road to recovery. Please keep her in your thoughts and continue supporting her as you have been.”

More than £22,000 has been raised so far from over 900 donations.

Bebe King, six, Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were stabbed to death at the class, while 10 others were injured.

Ms Lucas reportedly planned the two-hour dance and yoga session to coincide with the school holidays, and taught the class alongside Heidi Barlow. Ms Barlow was also injured in the attack, but not as seriously as Ms Lucas.

More than £68,000 has been donated to Elsie’s mother and father, Jennifer and David, who “need time to grieve and support their other daughter, Rosie”.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, has been charged with the murder of the three girls in Merseyside.

He is also charged with the attempted murder of yoga class instructor Leanne Lucas, businessman John Hayes, and eight children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and possession of a kitchen knife with a curved blade.

Soon after the attack, false claims of the suspect’s identity were spread online with some posts speculating he was a Muslim migrant who had arrived in the UK by boat in 2023.

Far-right riots then engulfed the country, and now a total of 1,117 arrests and 677 charges have been made in connection to the disorder.