'I'm not the hero': Man who confronted Southport attacker speaks of ordeal

This report contains details that some viewers may find disturbing.

A man who was stabbed in the leg as he confronted a knifeman accused of murdering three girls in Southport has spoken to ITV News about the ordeal.

Johnathan Hayes was working in a neighbouring office when he heard girls screaming and running out of the building in Hart Street on Monday morning.

"I heard lots of children running out the building, screaming and shouting. That itself isn't unusual because children are very excitable normally when they come out of these classes so that alone didn't surprise me or strike me as unusual," he said.

"But that then didn't die down, which it normally does and so some of my colleagues got up to look out of the window and it was only at that stage when one of my colleagues witnessed a young girl on the floor, I assume by the entrance of the front door of our building and said words to the affect 'there's a girl outside bleeding out'."

Mr Hayes said he ran out of his office, only to be confronted by another girl on the floor who "looked like she had multiple stab wounds".

Stood near her was a man, armed with a knife.

"He came towards me in a pretty menacing way and I thought he was going to kill me. You don't have time to do a risk assessment, I just put my arm up when this knife came at me," he added.

After blocking the attack, Mr Hayes kicked out at the individual. It was then he realised he had been stabbed in the leg and fell to the ground.

"I was on the floor and he came towards me and I tried to kick him and thankfully one of my colleagues appeared round the corner and he [the attacker] then bolted.

"I was bleeding quite badly so I shouted '999' so someone could call the ambulance."

One of Mr Hayes' colleagues found a belt and strapped it above the wound to act as a tourniquet until the paramedics arrived.

Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, were fatally stabbed in the attack.

Eight other children suffered knife wounds. Two of the injured have been discharged from hospital; five more who were in a critical condition are now stable.

Mr Hayes spent three days in hospital after undergoing surgery and says he has been inundated with messages from well-wishers.

"Hundreds and thousands of people have been in touch, people I don't know and people I've not spoken to for 15 years."

"It's heartwarming the number of people that have been in touch, whatever evil there is in the world there's also good."

Among those to visit him in hospital was the parents of Leanne Lucas, who was one of the organisers of the children's event. She too was injured in the attack and remains in hospital.

But Mr Hayes has insisted he is "not the hero" and does not want the attention to be taken away from the young victims, nor the emergency services who responded to the incident.

"I'm really saddened by everything that happened and I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help those little girls."

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A 17-year-old boy, Axel Rudakubana, has been charged with three counts of murder and ten counts of attempted murder.

The teenager could previously not be named because of his age but would have lost anonymity when he turns 18 on August 7.

Rudakubana is also charged with possession of a bladed article, which was said in court to be a kitchen knife with a curved blade.

He will next appear at Liverpool Crown Court on October 25, with a provisional trial date scheduled for January 20, 2025.

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