Southport knife attack witness recalls terror after confronting Axel Rudakubana - ‘The horror will live with me forever’

“He’s looked at me. He had his hood up and a big kitchen knife. I just don’t understand how anyone can do anything like that to innocent girls. He definitely doesn’t deserve to be alive." Verite told The Sun.

The personal trainer had been on a break from helping a friend with his window cleaning business when they noticed chaos developing and teacher Leanne Lucas slumped by a car.

She was found with a large wound on her shoulder and told Verite that a man had launched a knife attack at the studio.

The teacher had managed to call the police and Verite told them to hurry to the scene.

He tried running to the studio to help but was distracted by a woman’s car - carrying four or five girls in the back seat.

Verite said he witnessed the “heartbreaking” sight of an injured girl before picking her up and ran for help.

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The 26-year-old and his friend attempted to stop the blood flow of the girl and performed CPR on the child who was later revealed to be nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar.

Alice tragically died along with six-year-old Bebe King and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe.

Verite said he was on the staircase of the studio when he spotted Rudakubana.

“I looked up and literally he’s come and circled round and looked at me. He’s on the top of the landing, looking at me on the staircase, and he’s scurried back off into the room. He had his hood up and a big kitchen knife.”

The man said he froze and didn’t know what to do, adding that until somebody finds themselves in this situation they can’t understand how it feels.

“I might not be here today if I did actually do what I probably really wanted to do. The horror will live with me forever," he said.

Verite, who smashed a glass door so Rudakubana could not lock the building, left to find something he could use as a weapon.

He then helped police with first aid and gathered equipment for paramedics.

The father-of-two revealed that the first thing he did when he got home was hug his nine-month-old daughter.

He said: “It was hard seeing her because, while it was nice, I was also thinking, ‘Someone’s just lost theirs’.”