A 14 year-old girl wounded in last year's stabbings that claimed the lives of three young girls has said she is angry she never got to face the "coward" in . Alice Aguiar, nine, seven year-old Elsie Stancombe and Bebe King, six, were fatally stabbed by murder-obsessed 17 year-old as they enjoyed a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last 29th July.

At Crown Court in January shocked even his own defence team by admitting mass murder at the start of his trial - then screamed from the dock forcing a judge to allow him instead of face his full sentencing hearing. Now - as the first anniversary of the tragedy looms next month - a girl who survived the attack has revealed she is angry Rudakubana's guilty pleas meant she could never give evidence and face him down in court.

The teenager - who we are calling 'Sarah' as a court order protects her real identity - was left with life-threatening injuries when Rudakubana attacked children and adults at The Hart Space.

She told BBC Radio Merseyside: "I was really angered by the fact he just turned round and said 'I plead guilty' [because] he didn't have to face us."

Sarah said the attack and the aftermath had shown her "the worst and the best of humanity", adding: "I was in hospital for exactly a week.

"All through [that time], it was obviously quite tough, but I was moved on to a ward with a few of the other girls and it was just lovely to see them all.

"We were all just geeing each other on - when one of us would start walking, then another one would say 'I'm going to get up and do that'."

Rudakubana was arrested at the scene of the attack by Merseyside Police officers but initially denied responsibility for them, before changing his plea to guilty on the first day of his trial in January.

He then refused to leave his cell to face the court when he was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 52 years three days later.

Sarah had prepared a victim impact statement, which she had hoped to read directly to her attacker.

"I wanted to get my story out there... and I felt like it would be a bit of closure for me as well," she said.

"It didn't end up happening in the end, which was tough and angering, because we'd had all that build-up, stress and anxiety.

"Everyone [told me] 'we don't know how you're going to be afterwards', and I said 'will you just let me do it and then I'll see?'

"I was really angered by the fact he just turned round and said 'I plead guilty' [because] he didn't have to face us. He's just a coward at the end of the day, targeting kids in the first place."

Sarah said she wanted move forward in a positive way and hoped to make a difference by setting up a charitable clothing brand with her sister, who also survived the attack, with support from their parents and family friends.

She said it would be called GABA, which stands for "Go Anywhere Be Anything", and a percentage of sales would help charities that focus on mental health, fund bleed packs and help to tackle knife crime.

"I want everyone who leaves high school to be first aid-trained," she said. "Everyone that is carrying knives or hurting each other is getting younger and younger.

"It's annoying that it's people who are my age. Hopefully, if they went through these courses, they might take a second thought about what they're doing."

Sarah's efforts echo those of yoga instructor Leanne Lucas, who also survived the attack and recently said she wanted to drive a cultural shift in which people swapped their traditional pointed-tip blades with blunt-ended knives, which presented a much lower risk of causing serious injury.

Leanne, 36, she wants adults across the country to switch to using rounded, or blunted, knives in their kitchens.

Declaring her mission, Ms Lucas told the Daily Express: "Every minute we wait, there are more and more opportunities for people to pick up something domestic in their home and use it as a weapon.

"What happened to us in the Summer was devastating and quite frankly shocking.

"That's one of the things that is spoken about the most - you just don't know who it is going to happen to and you don't know when it is going to happen.

"Launching this now is poignant really because we are saying we are not going to wait for a law to come through.

"We are not going to wait for the next scheme to be put in place. We can all take action ourselves without anyone really telling us what to do."

Leanne admitted she hasn't cooked since the atrocity last Summer and even felt "afraid" in her own kitchen.

Speaking to the Daily Express in the House of Commons, ahead of an emotional address at an event which Home Secretary Yvette Cooper attended, Leanne said she is still processing her new role as a knife crime campaigner.

Asked how she found the strength to become a campaigner, Ms Lucas said: "I'm not sure to be honest. But that is something that I am going to take into account when I meet campaigners and people who are behind very similar charities and organisations.

"We all have something in common. We all have this inner-drive, motivation and passion. There's that empathy there. That's something I am trying to learn. The only thing I can really think of is, my line of work was to work with children.

"I loved working with kids. The last thing I would have wanted was this to happen. Because it has happened, and it's part of the story, I can't un-see that. I can't let those lives be lost in vain.

"What happened was truly horrendous. We need to make sure something positive comes out of it to prevent more families going through the same heartache our community has."

She added: "The horrific events in Southport on the 29th of July 2024 changed my life forever. The pain and heartbreak that the families involved have had to endure is unimaginable.

"I will not let evil win. I need to know that I'm doing this for the girls, for myself and for future generations."

Campaigners have told us 262 people were stabbed to death last year. Kitchen knives were used in 42% of these cases. Leanne's "Let's be Blunt" campaign is urging householders, retailers and manufacturers to switch to rounded blades.

She added: "The main thing for me is getting people talking and getting people open to the fact, there are safer options available, we've never discussed how people feel about seeing this kitchen knife in our house. Households can decide how they talk about it - how they action it. But it is their choice.

"One person can take action into his own hands and create this horrendous thing. But good people can take action into their own hands and create goodness."

Patrick Green, from the Ben Kinsella Trust, said: "With blunted knives we're removing the opportunity, the impulsivity.

"Blunted knives would make things safer for everyone, and it's something the public can adopt right now. We don't need to wait for legislation, I expect a lot of people don't know that you can actually buy these knives now."

Crime and Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson: "We have been clear nothing is off the table when it comes to getting lethal blades off our streets and keeping people safe.

"We are actively exploring options and pursuing changes in this area, and I will be meeting with retailers and manufacturers to develop next steps on the promotion of rounded tipped knives."