A hero businessman who was stabbed in the Southport attack is ‘saddened’ he couldn’t do more to protect the children involved after three little girls were killed.
Jonathan Hayes, 63, who runs a business next to the studio where the attack happened on Monday, was in critical condition after being stabbed in the leg while trying to protect children from the killer.
Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar died in the attack, which took place at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Mr Hayes, a director at Calculus Legal Costs Limited, ran next door after hearing the screams coming from those in attendance at the event.
He was stabbed in the leg as he tried to save the children from being stabbed by the attacker.
Mr Hayes had surgery on Tuesday and said he expected to be in hospital for a while because he ‘can’t walk’.
Jonathan Hayes (pictured) was in critical condition after being stabbed in the leg while trying to protect children from the killer
People lay flowers and pay their respects near the scene where the attack took place in Southport
Police officers and forensic personnel put up a fence in Southport
The businessman added that he is ‘overwhelmed’ by the number of well wishes he has received since the tragedy.
His wife Helen, 57, previously revealed her husband regrets not being able to do more to stop the ‘ferocious attack’ that has left three children dead.
Helen told The Telegraph that her husband put himself between the knife-wielding attacker and the children, adding: ‘Our office is in the same building as the dance studio, he heard screams and went outside, saw the attacker, saw that he had hurt a child and tried to take the knife off him and got stabbed in the leg.
‘The dance studio is tucked away down a little alley, you wouldn’t know that there was a children’s dance studio there just by walking past – you would have to have known it was there.
‘I’ve been with him all afternoon at the hospital. He’s very upset that he wasn’t able to be more help. Physically he will be okay, mentally I don’t know.’
Bebe King, six, was the youngest child killed at the holiday club in Southport, Merseyside
Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, was also killed in the attack – her grieving mother has since called for calm
Alice, nine, died in the early hours of Tuesday after a hooded knifeman entered the Taylor Swift-themed holiday club and began stabbing the children in attendance
One resident said two female yoga teachers leading the class were critically injured as they desperately tried to save the children.
He told The Sun: ‘She was in the toilet, shut the door and locked it with one of the kids. The other got some kids to the fire exit.’
They added: ‘I heard some lads from the builders yard and a window cleaner came out and tried to help. They heard shouting,
‘Get the kids, get the kids’. I don’t know if they’ve tackled him. I heard someone sat on him.
‘A friend of mine, his two little daughters have been stabbed.
‘Little girls were getting worked on in gardens and mums were crying their eyes out.’
