A 17-year-old boy appears to have arrived at court to face charges of murdering three girls who were fatally stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
A white prison van arrived at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court at around 9.30am on Thursday flanked by a large escort of police vehicles.
Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were fatally stabbed on Monday when a knifeman entered the dance class on Hart Street in Southport, Merseyside.
Eight other children suffered knife wounds – with five of them in a critical condition – while two adults were also critically hurt.
Merseyside Police announced they were charging the boy at a midnight press conference on Thursday.
He cannot be named as he is under 18.
Thousands of people turned out to pay their respects to the victims at a vigil in Southport on Tuesday evening, but violence later erupted outside a mosque in the town with 53 police officers and three police dogs injured.
Protesters, chanting “you’re not English any more” and throwing bottles and cans at police in riot gear, were detained on Whitehall while in Hartlepool, County Durham, a police car was set alight and glass bottles and eggs were thrown at officers.
