A brave window cleaner put his life at risk to rescue injured children during the Southport knife attack recalls the frightening moment and shares his regret for not being able to do more to save three girls.

A heroic window cleaner who risked his own life saving injured children during the Southport rampage has opened up about how the horror played out. 

Marcin Tyjon, 41, along with his coworker Joel Verite, aged 26, were alerted to a violent incident at The Hart Space by the sight of panicked children running and the sound of distressing screams.

They were informed by a woman, who was found injured on the ground, that a young man named Axel Rudakubana, 18, was inside the dance studio attacking children.

In response, Joel entered the studio to rescue the girls one by one, while Marcin provided assistance to the wounded kids outside. Nearby residents hurried to the scene with towels to help stem the bleeding.

‘Someone took care of one girl, and I took care of the first one, then Joel brought out another girl and another one,’ Marcin, a window cleaner originally from Poland, told The Sun. 

‘I didn’t even know that the attacker was inside. We were in such a state of shock, in such a frenzy to save these children, that we didn’t even have time to speak to each other.’

Marcin even gave CPR to one young victim that had attended the Taylor Swift-themed dance class as ambulances started flooding the street to take those injured in the attack to hospital. 

One of the children carried out of the building by Marcin’s colleague Joel was Bebe King, six, who tragically died of her injuries. 

Marcin Tyjon (pictured), 41, and his colleague Joel Verite, 26, were alerted to the horrifying attack at The Hart Space in Hart Street, Southport, when they saw terrified children running down the street and heard heartbreaking screams

One of the children carried out of the building by Marcin’s colleague Joel was Bebe King (pictured), six, who tragically died of her injuries

Alice da Silva Aguiar (pictured), nine, died in hospital of her injuries a day after the rampage

Elsie Dot Stancombe (pictured), seven, was found dead in the studio after suffering severe injuries

A woman, who was lying bleeding on the pavement, reportedly told the men that someone – Axel Rudakubana, 18 – was inside the dance studio killing children

Marcin said that he didn’t know what condition the children he helped were in, ‘because they were all seriously injured’.

He told ambulance staff that he ‘had someone in very, very bad condition’ as panicked parents descended on the scene to pick up their daughters at the end of their class around midday. 

Despite his heroic efforts trying to help the injured victims, Marcin said he couldn’t forgive himself and questioned whether he ‘could have done something more’. 

Knifeman Rudakubana, dressed in a green hooded sweatshirt with the hood up and surgical mask on, had armed himself with a kitchen knife with a 20cm blade before he took a cab to Hart Street, arriving just before 11.45am. 

Minutes before he left home to travel to the dance class, it is understood the 18-year-old searched social media site X for the Mar Mari Emmanuel stabbing, which led to a video of the stabbing of the Bishop Emmanuel and five others during a sermon at church in Sydney in April 2024. 

He travelled in silence and when he arrived left the vehicle without paying, prompting the driver to follow him demanding payment, which he ignored.

A worker at a body shop saw what was going on, telling Rudakubana to pay the taxi driver, but he replied: ‘What are you going to do about it?’

Inside the play event, because of the summer heat, instructor Leanne Lucas opened a window, and as she did so, saw Rudakubana outside, but thought nothing of it.

Marcin’s colleague Joel (pictured) ran inside the dance studio and carried out injured children

Knifeman Rudakubana, dressed in a green hooded sweatshirt with the hood up and surgical mask on, had armed himself with a kitchen knife with a 20cm blade before he took a cab to Hart Street, arriving just before 11.45am. Rudakubana is pictured above as he waited for the cab

Police officers and forensic personnel stand behind a cordon on Hart Street in Southport, northwest England, on July 29, 2024

The 26 excited children, all girls and all aged between six and 11, had earlier been dropped off by loving parents at 10am for the start of the two-hour dance class, organised by Leanne and fellow instructor Heidi Liddle at The Hart Space. 

Children were gathered around tables in the studio making bracelets, a life-size model of Taylor Swift standing nearby for the youngsters to have their photos taken alongside.

Then the door opened. Rudakubana entered, armed with the black-handled Cerbera kitchen knife. Seconds later children’s screams rang out.

Without saying a word, he had grabbed the child nearest to him and began stabbing the youngster. He then moved through the room, systematically stabbing as many children as he could before they could escape him.

A child is seen on CCTV trying to escape the building, before being pulled back in. She is later seen stumbling from the building and collapsing.

As the horrified children ran from the studio, Rudakubana chased after them, stabbing them in their backs. He also knifed Leanne Lucas and businessman Jonathan Hayes, who was working in the office next door and bravely tried to stop the carnage. 

Witnesses described young girls running from the studio into the street, bleeding from multiple stab wounds.

Outside, a mother was sitting in her car waiting to collect her daughter, when she heard the screaming and saw people running from the building. She managed to grab her daughter and get into her vehicle, along with three other children.

Alice da Silva Aguiar appeared eager to get into the Taylor Swift dance class on Hart Street on Monday July 29 in a handout photo issued by her family

Heartbreaking floral tributes and teddy bears were left at the scene of the attack 

Police are pictured above investigating the scene on Hart Street in Southport on July 29, 2024

One of them had a bleeding injury to the chest, Alice da Silva Aguiar. She collapsed inside of the vehicle from the injury and died in hospital the next day. She was aged nine.

Police Sergeant Gillespie was the first officer on scene, arriving at 11.57am to find Rudakubana, holding the large, bloodied kitchen knife, which he dropped when ordered to do so.

This was around the time when Joel followed police into the building and carried injured children outside. 

In the studio itself, Sgt Gillespie found the body of Elsie Dot Stancombe, lying on her back on the floor, covered in blood, suffering severe injuries. It was obvious she had died. She was aged seven.

Soon afterwards Heidi Liddle and a little girl she protected were found hiding in a toilet. Crying with fear and relief, they were escorted from the building.

At 11.59am the defendant was arrested, initially on suspicion of attempted murder and soon afterwards, at 12.02pm on suspicion of murder.

Rudakubana had stabbed two adults and 11 children, Elsie Dot, Bebe and Alice all suffering fatal injuries.

When police searched the home of Rudakubana in Banks, Lancashire, after he carried out the attack on July 29, they found knives and poison, as well as images and documents relating to violence, war and genocide on his devices.

Firefighters from Merseyside joined members of the public in paying tribute to those killed and injured in the stabbings

A court artist’s sketch of Rudakubana appearing at Liverpool Crown Court on January 20, 2025

Sources said the material showed an ‘obsession with extreme violence’ but there was no evidence he subscribed to any political or religious ideology or was ‘fighting for a cause’.

Among the items found on two tablet computers belonging to Rudakubana were documents including A Concise History Of Nazi Germany and The Myth Of The Remote Controlled Car Bomb, the PA news agency understands

Rudakubana, whose parents moved to the UK from Rwanda, also had documents called Rwanda’s Hutu Extremist Insurgency – An Eye Witness Perspective and Death And Survival During The 1994 Genocide In Rwanda.

Other files included A Place Under Heaven – Amerindian Torture and Cultural Violence; The Mau Mau War: British Counterinsurgency in Colonial Kenya; Clan Cleansing In Somalia, The Ruinous Legacy of 1991; and Examination Of Punishments Dealt To Slave Rebels In Two 18th Century British Plantation Societies.

Also found was a PDF file entitled Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants, The Al Qaeda Training Manual.

The discovery of the file led to Rudakubana being charged with possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism, which he admitted on Monday.

Ursula Doyle, deputy chief crown prosecutor, said: ‘It is clear that this was a young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence.’

Images relating to wars and conflicts including Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and Korea, well as images of knives and machetes, were discovered on the tablets.

Pictured above is a court sketch of Axel Rudakubana

Ricin was discovered in a plastic container under Rudakubana’s bed, and a bag which had contained castor seeds, used to make the poison, was found which had been purchased in 2022.

Also found were a machete and a knife identical to the one used in the attack at The Hart Space dance studio in Southport.

The internet browsing history on a laptop found in his home was deleted shortly before Rudakubana left the house, investigations are understood to have revealed.

The Government announced an inquiry into the Southport case on Monday evening, saying the country needed answers on how the state failed to protect Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.

Ahead of what would have been his trial on Monday, Rudakubana unexpectedly admitted murdering the three girls and attempting to murder eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.

He further pleaded guilty to possessing a knife on the date of the attack, production of the toxin ricin on or before July 29, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.