Southport stabbings – what we know so far about knife attack

One eyewitnesses at the scene said the scene was like a “horror movie”.

Colin Parry, the owner of Masters Vehicle Body Repairs on Hart Street, who called the police, said he believed six or seven “young girls” had been stabbed.

“It’s like something from America, not like sunny Southport,” he said.

One neighbour, helped by another, took “about 10 girls to safety” in his house, Mr Parry told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“The community was coming together, everyone was trying to help,” he said. “Everyone was trying to save the young kids.”

He said another man, a builder, also helped some of the children leave the site of the attack.

A local parent, who did not wish to be named, said his daughter was “traumatised” by the attack.

He said: “My daughter was in it and she was traumatised.

“She ran away and she’s safe.”

Joanne, a therapy nurse who lives in the area, says she ran out of work after receiving a call from a friend, as she had to make sure her daughters were safe.

She says one of her daughters heard “quite a sinister scream” when she was in the garden around the time of the incident.

“Nobody can believe it. All the local mums have checked in with one another. I’m sure we’re all going to know somebody from that poor group,” she adds.