Pictured: Hero businessman stabbed in leg while trying to save Southport children after hearing screams from office
30 July 2024, 07:47
A heroic businessman was stabbed in the leg while trying to save children from the Southport stabbing attack on Monday.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Jonathan Hayes, 63, was wounded while running to disarm the attacker who killed two children and injured nine more, as well as two adults in the Merseyside town.
His wife Helen said that despite his heroics her husband regrets not being able to do more to stop the "ferocious" attack.
Six of the children were critically injured in the attack, as well as the two adults. A 17-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with the attack.
Helen said that her husband had reacted after hearing the children in extreme distress. His office is across the landing from the dance studio where the attack took place during a Taylor Swift-themed event.
Helen told the Telegraph: "Our office is in the same building as the dance studio, he heard screams and went outside, saw the attacker, saw that he had hurt a child and tried to take the knife off him and got stabbed in the leg.
"The dance studio is tucked away down a little alley, you wouldn't know that there was a children's dance studio there just by walking past – you would have to have known it was there.
"I've been with him all afternoon at the hospital.
"He's very upset that he wasn't able to be more help. Physically he will be okay, mentally I don't know."
Mr Hayes is going to have surgery on Tuesday.
His wife said that her husband told her the attacker had"a big knife".
She added: "It made quite a big wound. Not a penknife certainly. Why you target little girls, I don’t know."
The children were attending an event at a holiday club when the attacker walked into the premises and started to attack, Merseyside Police's Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said.
"We believe that the adults who were injured were bravely trying to protect the children who were being attacked," she added.
She went on to say the motivation behind the stabbings "remains unclear".
The teenager, born in Wales, was arrested on Monday morning and remains in police custody, Merseyside Police said. He will be questioned about the incident.
A police statement on Monday evening said: "It is with great sadness that today I am here to advise that two young children have died as a result of injuries sustained in a knife attack this morning.
"Nine other children have been injured, and six of them are in a critical condition, all those injured have suffered stab wounds sustained during the attack. Two adults are also in a critical condition after being injured during the incident.
"A 17-year-old male from Banks in Lancashire, who was born in Cardiff, has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder and has been taken to a police station where he will be interviewed by detectives.
"My officers were called to reports of a stabbing at 11.47am at an address Southport. When they arrived they were shocked to find that multiple people, many of whom were children, had been subjected to a ferocious attack and had suffered serious injuries.
"It is understood that the children were attending a Taylor Swift event at a dance school when the offender, who was armed with a knife, walked into the premises and started to attack those inside. We believe that the adults who were injured were trying to protect the children at the time they were attacked.
"As a mum of two daughters, and the nanna of a five-year-old granddaughter, I cannot begin to imagine the pain and suffering the families of the victims are currently going through and I want to send them our heartfelt condolences and sympathies.
"Our specialist Family Liaison Officers are providing support to the families at this terrible time."
