A man who was injured as he attempted to disarm the alleged attacker who killed three young girls in Southport has criticised rioters for diverting attention away from the tragic loss.
John Hayes was working in the office next door to the Hart Space dance studio last Monday, when he heard children screaming.
He opened the door to be confronted by the alleged attacker and was stabbed in the thigh as he tried to take hold of the knife.
The wound was close to his femoral artery.
He is now recovering at home and told Sky News: “My thoughts have always been with the three young children who have lost their lives and their families.
“I can’t imagine what they’ve gone through or are going through.”
He has insisted he is not a hero for his actions but admitted he feared for his life at the time.
“I’m just fortunate to be here,” he said.
He continued: “I’ve taken it one day at a time. I was pretty scared. I don’t mind admitting it.
“It’s only after that you go through the what-ifs and I appreciate how lucky I have been.
“I was terribly sad at the time, and subsequently, that I wasn’t able to do more but I’m grateful to be here and able to recover.”
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The psychological scars, he said, will take longer to heal.
“I haven’t even processed that. I’ve not slept particularly well. I’ve had a number of flashbacks.”
He was speaking on the day that inquests were opened and adjourned into the deaths of six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar.
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‘I’ll be okay … others won’t be’
Mr Hayes said: “I’m going to be okay and others won’t be and that’s really where the attention should be.
“I think it’s a real shame that the trouble we’ve seen in Southport and elsewhere in the country has diverted the attention in such a short time away from the tragic event which should be the main story.
“A lot of the people involved, I don’t even know why they’re involved, why they’re protesting.”
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He added: “But I do feel as though there’s a huge undercurrent of discontent and anger about the inability of successive governments to deal with the immigration issue and I know, in my view, that’s not related to the stabbing, that might have just been the catalyst or the final straw, but I would rather they address the fundamental issue and I think that’s possibly how they will quell these disturbances rather than taking them into custody.”
Read more:
Three men jailed after riots
UK riots ‘frightening time for many’
Coroner pays tribute to three girls ‘cruelly’ killed
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He said police told him his actions undoubtedly helped save lives last Monday.
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“If that’s true, I don’t know if that’s true, but if it is, I’m delighted to have made that contribution.”
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