BBCLeanne Lucas speaks to the BBC about the "absolute trauma" of the attackA yoga teacher who almost died in the Southport attack has described for the first time the desperate moments when she helped several children run to safety, despite having been stabbed five times.Leanne Lucas told BBC Panorama how she called 999 as the attacker chased after them. "I just knew that if I didn't get out, everyone was going to die," she said.A 13-year-old helping to run the class, whom we are calling Sarah, also told the BBC that attacker Axel Rudakubana looked "possessed" as he stabbed her.Leanne and Sarah are the first survivors who escaped the room to speak publicly. Ten people were injured and three children were killed in the attack last July.Warning: This article contains descriptions of distressing scenes and injuriesSarah - who is now 14 and whose identity is protected by a court order - was seriously wounded but managed to lead several other children, including her younger sister, to safety.Sitting alongside her parents, she told us how another "incredible" girl, who appeared to be only about 10 years old, was keeping other children calm, telling them: "Don't worry, your parents are going to be here, everything's going to be OK."The two survivors of the attack, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga workshop, recounted how they had helped others escape the terrifying violence and how neighbours had rushed to their aid.They also revealed how misinformation spread following the attack, including messages on social media blaming Leanne for the deaths. Leanne and Sarah both expressed shock at how authorities had missed warning signs about the attacker."It's so shocking how much evidence they had on him, how he slipped through the net," said Leanne."You see the best and the worst at the same time," said Sarah, who described seeing "the evil side of people" in Rudakubana's violence and "all the good of all the community coming together as well to help everyone".Sarah, who was interviewed with her parents present, said she wanted to speak so her voice could be heardWith the mammoth Eras tour reaching the UK, the summer of 2024 was Taylor Swift's summer. So when children's yoga instructor Leanne Lucas and her friend, dance teacher Heidi Liddle, organised a workshop themed around the singer, it sold out within a week.Twenty-five little girls, the youngest five years old, signed up for a morning of dancing, yoga, and making friendship bracelets at the Hart Space studio on 29 July. Sarah offered to help the two teachers and took photos at the event.As the session was drawing to a close, Leanne gathered all of the children together. "We went round the circle and they said how they were feeling and one of the little girls said: 'This is the best day of my life'," Leanne said.The girl, nine-year-old Alice Aguiar, died later that night. Seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and six-year-old Bebe King were also killed in the attack.Rudakubana, the killer, had arrived by taxi, wearing a bright green hoodie and a medical face mask that covered his mouth. Dashcam footage shows him trying a locked door at the Hart Space before walking through an open doorway and heading up the stairs.Leanne saw the attacker briefly through the window, but she had no idea who he was – or that he posed a threat. The next thing she knew, he was in the room."He opened the door and grabbed a child. I don't know what he was doing. I didn't see anything. He then grabbed the next child, and the next child. And then I shout: 'Who is that?'"Sarah was one of the first to be attacked. "I saw him stab a child in front of me. And then I saw the knife coming towards me and him coming towards me," she said."And that's when I saw it go into my arm. And that's when I turned and he must have got my back, but I didn't feel it at the time, because of the adrenaline."Family handoutsElsie Dot Stancombe, Bebe King and Alice Aguiar diedThe attacker made his way through the room, before reaching their teacher."He moves through the girls by the table and moves next to me," Leanne told us, reliving the scene in her mind. "I just felt something go in my back and my brain just said – he got me."Leanne suffered five stab wounds – to her spine, her head, her ribs, her lung, and her shoulder blade. Despite this, she managed to get herself and several of the girls out of the room and call the police."I just knew that if I didn't get out everyone was going to die," she told us, wiping tears from her eyes."He was bigger than me. And I just thought: I need to get some help. So we all run towards the door. We were shouting: 'Run!' I called 999 on the landing and I asked for the police."She said she then saw a flash of green - the attacker's hoodie - "and I go into panic mode and he's chasing us".It's clear that more children would have died if the teachers and Sarah hadn't taken the action they did.At Rudakubana's sentencing, the judge said Leanne "tried to save as many children as she could" while being attacked, and that "she did all she could before escaping".Leanne says: "The police said we'd all be dead if me and Heidi hadn't done what we'd done and that gives nothing for the children who did die... that doesn't take that away."But like many of those who saved lives that day, she still torments herself.Sarah was left with life-threatening injuries and fractures to two of her spinal vertebrae."I remember seeing the girls all like huddling around the stairs," she told us calmly. "So I remember shouting for them to get down and get out. So I was physically pushing them down the stairs to get everyone out."I thought that he wasn't going to stop until he killed everyone. I thought that he wanted to kill us all."Getty ImagesThe attack took place at the Hart Space studio in SouthportDespite her injuries, Sarah managed to lead several other children out of the Hart Space, up the driveway and across the street, where local resident Steve was fixing his garden wall.Sarah told him she had been stabbed and thought she was dying, but Steve reassured her and led the children into his house. "Everyone was in a blind panic," Sarah told us.Steve describes Sarah as "a hero". "She led all them kids away."He and his wife began taking care of the children. One of the girls who had been stabbed was "tiny", Steve recalled, and he could see others were injured too.Meanwhile, James Dixon had heard the screams while working at the garage next door to the Hart Space."As a parent, you can tell the difference between a scream of play and a scream of terror," he said. "And this was – nightmares, pain. They were terrified."Steve said Sarah was "a hero" for leading children to safety at his houseA parent was in her car, calling the police, with five or six children in the back. One appeared to be seriously injured. James ran over to another child who had collapsed."She asked me: 'Am I going to die?' Which just breaks your heart, but I told her no," he said. She was so badly injured he was afraid his reassurance might not be true. "I focused everything on her to make sure to keep her alive."James saved the seven-year-old girl's life.Two more workers from the garage, Colin Parry and Julian Medlock, had rushed over to help. They saw Leanne, leaning against a car, "completely in shock", said Colin.He asked her if she needed help, but she told him: "Just look after the girls. Just look after the girls.""My brain is going 100 miles an hour but my body won't do anything," Leanne recalled. "And there are people asking me questions and I am saying: 'Go and get the children.'"I just don't know what else I could have done," she said.Garage workers Julian Medlock, James Dixon and Colin Parry rushed to help the injured girlsAt the same time, window cleaner Joel Verite had spotted Leanne as he was driving past on his round. He screeched to a halt and saw her point up to the studio, saying that a man was stabbing children up there.Businessman Jon Hayes, who had been working in an adjoining office, had also been stabbed after confronting the attacker.Joel raced inside, shouting as he climbed the stairs. He saw Rudakubana standing at the top of the staircase."We locked eyes for a brief second. He's got a knife," Joel said. "My life flashed before my eyes. Who else is with him? Who is going to come behind me?"Steve had run over from his house, armed with hammers. He met Joel, who had stepped back from the staircase after facing off with the knifeman. "We had a little chat to ourselves and said, right, are we going to go in and do him or what?" Steve said.But at that moment, the police arrived. They entered the studio with a Taser, subdued Rudakubana and arrested him.Steve said he saw the police knocking on the locked door of one of the toilets. Inside was Heidi Liddle, Leanne's friend. After helping some of the children escape, she had found an eight-year-old girl hiding in a toilet and had saved her by locking them both inside.It was now noon - the time when the workshop had been due to end - and the street had filled with distraught parents looking for their children.Sarah's dad arrived and saw Joel carrying a child. "My initial thought was, God - and I just ran for the building," he told us. But Steve was telling parents that many of the children were sheltering at his house.There, the door was open and his youngest daughter came out. "I just gripped tight, ever so hard. She goes, 'I'm fine. I'm fine'."Still outside the Hart Space studio, Sarah's mum saw "blood everywhere". "There were bloody hands on cars," she said. "When I looked up, I just saw my husband at the end of the street. He was waving me over and I just ran towards him. I just tried not to look at anything or anyone."Leanne and eight children - including Sarah - were treated for life-threatening injuries."I asked someone if I was going to die," Leanne said. "And she didn't say no. She's just said 'you're in the best place'." Leanne said she heard someone discuss possible paralysis and something about her lungs.Sarah was taken to the same hospital, where her father was told they had had to operate on her lung, which had collapsed from a puncture wound.While Leanne recovered from life-saving surgery, rioting began, first in Southport, then spreading across the UK, following false rumours that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker. She said she was targeted on social media by people who blamed her for the children's deaths."I just was scared of everybody. And still thinking it was all my fault. If I hadn't arranged the day, if I had never advertised in certain places, if I hadn't used that studio," she said.She saw videos of riots taking place on her own street. "I was like, are they trying to get me?"Sarah told us "disinformation" on social media was one of the reasons she wanted to tell her story - "to get my voice and the truth out there to everyone".Others who acted bravely on that day share Leanne's sense of disbelief and turmoil. "Those screams haunt me," says James, who saved a seven-year-old girl's life. "I'd think to myself, if I ran a little bit quicker, a little bit braver, took a weapon..."PA MediaThe attacks led to outpourings of grief and anger in the streetsWe first met Leanne in January. She had endured six months of waiting for her attacker to be tried. But on the day his trial was due to begin, Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to three charges of murder and 10 of attempted murder. For Leanne, this was another act of malice."I found out he pleaded guilty on the news," Leanne recalled. "I felt so angry. We knew he did it. He knew he did it. Every single person knew he did it. And he waited until the day of trial to say guilty and put every single family, victim, witness - everyone in that position."For many witnesses in the case, Rudakubana's last-minute guilty plea – however manipulative in its timing – was a relief. Many were dreading the prospect of sitting in a courtroom with their attacker while lawyers pored over the details of the injuries he had inflicted.Sarah, however, wanted her day in court, saying she'd had all the "stress and anxiety" without the "closure".Rudakubana was sentenced to 52 years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed because he was 17 years old when he carried out the attack.Leanne said she wanted to speak out now because, even after the court proceedings, she still did not feel the "absolute trauma" of that day had been understood. "I just feel like I am able to be the voice of people you can't hear who are involved in the story," she said.On the day her attacker was sentenced, Leanne spoke about the survivor's guilt she lives with. "I cannot give myself compassion or accept praise, as how can I live knowing I survived when children died," she told the court. She said she was struggling to trust others and trying to see the goodness in the world. "For Alice, Elsie, Bebe, Heidi and the surviving girls, I'm surviving for you," she said.She told us about treasured moments with each of the girls who died. She described Bebe's "pure excitement" at holding a puppy during a puppy yoga session. The day of the attack was the first time Leanne had met Alice, and the "beautiful smile" of this "confident ballerina" left an impression. And she recalled Elsie's enthusiasm for the weekly reading and writing lessons they had together.It is clear that their memory is what keeps her going."These children represent goodness, I think. Just pure goodness," she told us. "Happiness. How genuine they were. Positive. The love of life and just making the best out of every single moment. That's how I remember them."A list of organisations offering support and information with some of the issues in this story is available at BBC Action LineSouthport victim 'born to be a star', parents tell BBCAttack mum 'will never feel true happiness again'Southport families 'try to find light in the dark'