The knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on Monday in which three children were killed has shocked Britain and drawn global attention, while there were violent clashes in its aftermath.
Here we answer key questions about what is known so far about the atrocity:
What happened and how did it unfold?
On Monday afternoon, reports started to emerge of a stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga class for children aged six to 11 in Southport, a seaside town in Merseyside, north-west England. There was a flood of footage and imagery of a chaotic scene at a property on Hart Street.
It soon emerged that a suspect had launched a “ferocious” attack, stabbing 13 people at the event, including 11 children. Police quickly said a male suspect had been detained, later confirmed to be a 17-year-old boy.
Later that day, police revealed that two children had died and nine others had been injured, six of them critically. Two adults were also in a critical condition after bravely trying to protect the children, officers said. On Tuesday morning, it was confirmed that a third child had died.
The venue where the attack happened was Hart Space, which hosts antenatal classes and summer holiday clubs. The attack was the worst multiple stabbing in Britain for years, and the worst attack on children since 16 primary school pupils were killed in a shooting in Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996.
Who was killed and injured?
The three children who died have been named as Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine. Alice’s parents paid tribute to their “princess” who loved smiling and dancing, while Bebe’s family said: “No words can describe the devastation that has hit our family as we try to deal with the loss of our little girl.”
Taylor Swift issued a statement saying she was “completely in shock”, adding: “These were just little kids at a dance class. I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.”
Among the injured adults, one is understood to have been Leanne Lucas, the yoga teacher who was leading the Taylor Swift class. Lucas lives in Southport and runs Enlighten Kids Yoga.
As of Wednesday morning, five children and two adults remained in critical condition.
What do we know about the suspect?
The only details released by police are that the suspect is male, 17 years old, born in Cardiff in south Wales, and a resident of Banks, a village of about 5,000 people 5 miles (8km) north-east of Southport. It has been widely reported that the boy’s parents are from Rwanda. There is no suggestion or evidence released so far that the boy practises or follows any specific religion.
The Guardian understands the police are increasingly focusing on the suspect’s mental health in the years before the attack.
It is understood that nothing supporting any kind of terrorist motive has been found. The suspect’s family had moved to Merseyside from Cardiff in about 2013, and lived in a house in the centre of Southport, before moving to Banks.
The teenager’s father has worked as a taxi driver and trained in karate for many years, and the suspect is also understood to have studied the martial art as a boy.
His former neighbours in Cardiff said they were a “nice family” and that they were “shocked” to learn of the arrest.
The police took an unusual step of warning the public and press against a name that had been circulating online which the force said was incorrect.
Why has so little been said and reported about the suspect’s identity?
In England and Wales, any person under the age of 18 subject to criminal charge is automatically afforded anonymity under section 49 of the Children and Young Person’s Act 1933. This can only be waived by a judge and most commonly this does not happen until the end of criminal proceedings – that is, the conclusion of a trial and a successful conviction of the individual.
It is also common practice for media not to name a person of any age arrested but not charged unless there is a specific public appeal by the police or courts for the individual, or the individual reveals their own identity, most often through a public rebuttal.
What has been the impact of the stabbings – and why were there violent clashes?
Hundreds attended a vigil on Tuesday afternoon in Southport. Many people could be seen fighting back tears, while community figures including church leaders and local authority representatives spoke of heartbreak and shock in the town.
“Southport is not used to global attention. To be known around the globe for a defining incident has shook us all to the core,” said the town’s hospital chaplain, Martin Abrams. “Clearly, the crowd tonight shows we want to stand together.”
The mayor of the borough of Sefton, June Burns, told the vigil that the scale of the tragedy “hit her” when she laid flowers among the hundreds of others that had been left at the scene. “It really gets you. You can’t help but cry because of the outpouring of grief,” she said.
Later in the evening, the town was left reeling by violent scenes after a far-right mob staged a riot outside a mosque in the town.
Misinformation, which sprung up online almost immediately after the attack on Monday, wrongly suggested the attacker was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat and that he was on an MI6 security services watch list, while police were accused of hiding details about him.
This snowballed to the point that far-right groups mobilised supporters to attend a “protest” in the town on Tuesday evening. Protesters, believed to include supporters of the English Defence League, pelted police with glass bottles and bricks, set a police van on fire and attacked a mosque. The violence, which left 39 police officers injured, has been widely condemned, including by the mother of one of the victims.
